I decided if I was going to post at all this week, I had better do it tonight, instead of waiting until tomorrow, whenI know I will be very very sick. To tell you the truth, I am not feeling too well tonight either. I can certainly think of better times in my life. I am not particularly in the best shape to start taking all the stuff I have to take tomorrow for my colonoscopy Wednesday. Actually, I haven't felt really well all week. It was stake conference this last weekend and I didn't get to either of the meetings. Dick had to go for both of us, I'm afraid. I just feel so week and listless, it seems that all I want to do is sleep. I almost hated to get out of bed this morning. I suppose I will get through this, but how I am dreading the whole thing!! Hopefully, I won't have to take any more of these for the rest of my life. I haven't had one for five years, so guess I am due one more.........darn!

I was going to do a post about my sweet husband, but I am really not prepared to do that tonight, so it will have to wait until I am feeling lots lots better, maybe next Tuesday, maybe not, but soon anyway.

Since my week was pretty uneventful, I won't even mention it, only to say that it has been quite a bit warmer. I think most days around 105 degrees. I really don't mind that so much as of course we have air conditioning, and I really do like it hot when we go in the pool, which we did every day until Friday. Dick had to go to the doctor Friday afternoon and I didn't want to go in without him, so we missed out pool exercises that day and all weekend. We would have gone in today, but I just didn't feel well enough. This is the longest we have gone without exercising in a long long time. I think I will be able to go in Thursday and will go Saturday to make up for days we missed this week. We usually only do it five days a week. Next week should see us back on a regular schedule and I am sure I will feel lots better by then.

Okay, Karen, this one's for you: ( and anyone else who might like to make this yummy, super easy pie)

Key Lime Pie:

1 Baked pie shell ( I usually buy ready made shortbread ones. I don't like a
graham cracker one for these.)
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk 14 oz.
1/2 cup key lime juice
2 extra large or 3 large egg yolks, beaten just a bit

Blend milk, lime juice, and egg yolk until smooth and pour into shell. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees, cool and refrigerate.

It is so so easy and really delicious. Some people like to put a bit of grated rind in it too, but the key limes I get are so small and sort of a brownish green plus it would be almost impossible to get any grater to remove the rind because it is too hard and dry. Of course it could be made with just plain limes or even lemon juice, but trust me, key limes are the best. I usually serve it with cool whip, but if you prefer whippped cream, go for it! This recipe is very similar to the Pioneer Woman's recipe but I didn't get it there.

My fingers haven't been working too well because I have been trying to do a bit of knitting. I can only do a few rows a day, but it's enough to make my whole hands hurt because I have arthriis in them so badly. It's hell to get old, but a whole lot better than the alternative. I need to hang in at least five more years, and I appreciate all of you wonderful blogger friends who keep rooting for me. I do love you all.................

Tuesday Tuesday

This is me with my handsome grandson, Todd, who is now a second year medical student! I am so thrilled that he passed his final examination, which was anatomy(the hardest one) with flying colors. This picture was taken at the beginning of the year when he received his white coat. I just got the great news from Sue that he got his grades and they were good ones!! He will be going home to work for an oncologist for the summer. In fact he has to start Friday so will be leaving for home Thursday. Today is indeed a happy day for me.

Why in the world any of you would want to know about all my tests and labs and what not is beyond me, but since many of you asked, I will give it all in a nutshell. I passed my tests with flying colors for my cardiolagist. In fact, she said I wouldn't have to take any more echo cardiograms as everything looked so good. Everything else was good too so I won't be going back for another six months, although I made it seven, so I don't always have to go in June and December. They are both really busy months and I hate to have to do all the doctor stuff during those months, so now I will be going in January and July. One thing I really like about my cardiology team is that they have me come in every six months to check everything. I like that they are keeping a close check on me. The cadiologist I used to have just always told me to come in if I have a problem. I like not having to worry about anything. I'm slated for a stress test in January, but she wasn't even sure I would have to take that, because everything looked so good. I hope I won't have to. Anyway, as far as my heart is concerned, it couldn't be better.

My bottom teeth, (the ones that are screwed in permanently to the three implants that are left) are wonderful now. My Maxillofacial Prosthodontist just had to adjust them slightly and now they feel perfect. I have to go back to him tommorow for him to just take a look at the top tooth they were bothering. I am sure it will be fine as the tooth doesn't hurt anymore.

My hearing aids are just fine now too. She had to adjust them and took out some little wire thing that wrapped aroung the botttom of my ears and it was driving me crazy with itching. I hope they will stay in. I only wore them if I was watching television (which I don't do much anymore......I'd lots rather read) or when someone came to visit. She wants me to wear them all the time now, so I'm trying.

My other lab test was to find out if I had enough iron in my blood. I haven't heard back from them and probably won't because I have to go to my Hemotologist next month. He will then let me know if I need an iron infusion. I don't suppose it was too bad or I would have had a call by now to come in right away for one.

So now you have it, I had to see all of these professionals this past week and it was a busy one. I am so glad that the only thing I have left this month is my colonoscopy, which I absolutely hate having. I go a week from tomorrow for that. I don't mind the actual procedure, it is the preparation the day before that just about does me in. I get so deathly sick with all that stuff I have to drink. Oh well, this too will be over soon, but I may not feel like blogging next Tuesday, unless I decide to do it in the morning instead of in the evening as I always have done.

My goodness, this nutshell has grown, hasn't it?

So, as far as my doctors are concerned, I am doing pretty well. I really can't complain as there are so many people that are my age that are so much worse than I am. I am truly blessed. My goal, of course, is to live to be 90, which is five more years. If the next five years goes as quickly as the last five did, I will be there before I know it. I've learned to just take one day at a time and that works for me!!

It is such a nice bright sunny day. We did our pool exercises as usual and I noticed today that I really am getting a great tan. I like being tan as people always tell me that I look so great and who doesn't like a compliment like that!!

That's about it folks. I do hope all of you are doing well and that you are enjoying life to the fullest. If any of you have any ideas about what I could possibly blog about next Tuesday morning, let me know. It's going to be a pretty dull week, I'm afraid. I may have to come up with something from my life before I was a blogger!!

Mostly Ryan

A younger Ryan

Ryan, the businessman

At the beach tossing the football around

Hiking with his dad

On their way to another hiking venue

On the trail

In the big pines

It seems to be getting increasingly difficult for me to find something to blog about each Tuesday. I know I still have a lot of grandchildren to brag about but for some reason, I don't like to do grandchildren unless I have five or six pictures of them to post. I tried to find some before Dick left for his church meeting so that he could help me post them, but we only found four of Ryan, who is the one I decided to post about. They are all on some of his MANY hiking trips with his dad. The two of them really love to hike and they have a plan to eventually hike all of the National Parks. They have a darned good start of them and I wish I knew how many they have done, but maybe Sue will know. I just called her to see if she could find just one picture of him in his suit, looking business like as he looks pretty nifty in his suits. I learned one thing about him when he was here with the family for their yearly golf trip at the end of May. He doesn't always wear a suit when he goes to work. I guess I just thought that all auditors wore suits while working, but I was mistaken.

I am so proud of Ryan, because I just know he has to be one of the youngest managers working for a major auditing firm. He is very intelligent and passed his CPA exam the first time he took it. He went to work for one of the big accounting firms right out of school and has climbed the ladder pretty quickly. Being a manager is a very responsible job. They head up an auditing team and usually have a few businesses that they audit. Ryan and his team were in the process of auditing one of them when it came time for him to come down here for the golf. After just a day, it seemed like as soon as he got home from playing golf, he was on the phone. They were having some difficult problems that pretty much required his presence and unfortunatley he did have to fly home early, in the wee small hours of the morning. We hated seeing him go home, but he did as much as he could from here, without actually being there. At least he got a couple of mornings of golf in but that was all. He has done a very good job for them.

Anyway, I just had to sing his praises a bit here. He is such a handsome guy, but I do have to tell you, he is a very big tease and he really loves to tease his grandma. I am pretty much on to him though, and he doesn't get me too often. I think it thrills him a lot when occasionally he is successful.

Well, Dick just got home, quite a bit earlier than I thought he would, which is good for me because now he can retrieve some pictures that Sue sent me of Ryan and he can add them for me.

1. Maybe next week I can do better, but honestly nothing much happened to me this week.........just a lot of the usual, doctors, labs etc.

Another Week

Our cute little Sullivan taken March 2012

Sullivan with his Grandpa Blake, our wonderful son in law

I had hoped to post a picture of our little Sullivan but couldn't do it so will have to wait for Dick to help me and he probably won't get home until after 10:00p.m. The Bishop is going to be at his meeting tonight and when he is there, the meetings go on a long time as they try to get a lot accomplished. So I decided to start this and then finish it when he gets home. Most Tuesdays I have been getting him to help me before he left, but he didn't want to get away from the television tonight as he was watching that Wisconsin mess and he still had to leave before he found out who won.

Not very much happened around here last week. I mostly have been resting up for the great onset of a horrendous rest of the month. I have so many labs and medical procedures that I really must find a way to fix June so that next year it won't be so hectic. I have to see my cardiologist on the 14th of this month, and this Thursday have to have all the labs for that plus an Echo cardiogram. I also have to have a colonoscopy later on this month and I am certainly hating the thoughts of that. Maybe I won't have to take any more after this one. I have to go to two different kinds of dentists too. I am just going to have to take one day at a time, or I think I will go crazy.

We did go to a really fun party last Friday. It was a surprise birthday party for our Bishop. His wife, Sheila is so very artistic and creative, so of course all of the decorations were outstanding. It was held at a very poplular pizza place, but we had so much food, the pizza was a small part of it. It was held outdoors so was pretty warm during the first part of it, but when the sun went behind the mountain it was pretty nice. They started out with appetizers which consisted of the most wonderful deep fried very thin sliced potatoes, so some of them puffed way up, not all of them though. I really dislike french fried potatoes, so I was pleasantly surprised and I am going to try to make some myself, but probably won't get the seasoning just right. They put it on right after taking them out of the hot oil. I'm going to try though. They served this with a really good dip of some sort and none of us could figure out what was in it. All I could taste was the onions for sure but it was cold and white, so may have had some sour cream. Then they served hot chicken wings.....they were hot two ways, if you know what I mean. Everyone loved them but me. They were just a little too spicey hot for me. Then came a HUGE salad which I thought was yummy. After that, the pizza and then for dessert they had key lime pie(my favorite) and some kind of a chocolate chip cake that I didn't sample. Needless to say, we were all stuffed. All of the guys acted like kids because Sheila had put toys at each table, things that were popular with most of the guys when they were kids. They had these little gun things that blew these round plastic circle things way up in the air and they were all over, falling on everyone. They really had a great time, but I must say I was very very glad to get home as I was really beginning to hurt everywhere. Sitting on a straight chair for three hours was pretty awful for me and I was actually barely able to go to church Sunday.

I just got a phone call from my grandson, Sean, whom I introduced to you a few weeks ago. He is out of school now. He got straight A's this last semester. No surprise there for me, but he wanted to call and let me know. They just got out of school yesterday for the summer. He let me talk to the three new grandchildren (the ones I acquired when our son Rich married Stacy last July) They are such sweet kids and it was fun to talk to them. I will have to do a special blog on them one of these days, complete with pictures. I love it when my grandkids call. Not too many of them do, but Sean calls on a regular basis.

I know that this isn't a very interesting post, but truly, there wasn't much for me to write about. Maybe once a week is too often for me. We'll see. It's not quite 9:30 and Dick may not be home for another hour but I will get this off tonight, even if I can't get the picture of Sullivan posted. I was going to mention how excited I will be to see him this coming September. He is growing up so fast and I hate thinking that I will have to wait almost three more months before I see him, unless Kristin happens to come down to see her mom sometime this summer. If she does, we will go to Nikki's to see her and Sullivan for sure.

Til next time then......................

Memorial Day Weekend

This is the dress I wore the week before Mother's Day

This is the one I wore on Mother's Day.

Matt giving Bryce a sky dive.

Carli swimming underwater to Grandpa and Bryce.

The gang catching some rays.

It has been so wonderful having Sue and her family here for the weekend. Todd decided to stay over until today so that he and Dave could go golfing once more. Unfortunately Ryan had to go home early, and I do mean early. He had to leave here at 4:00 a.m. yesterday because of his work. He has such a responsible job as a manager for a large auditing firm. They wanted him to fly home as soon as he could because they were having problems. It was hard for him to even come and the truth is, we were grateful for the time he was able to be here.

The weekend did go by in a whirl, and I think everyone had a good time. There was certainly an abundance of food and fortunately quite a lot of it was eaten. I think we will still have to have friends come to help us eat leftovers. We roasted a turkey and half a ham, and we did pork for tostadas the last day. I don't really like to freeze turkey, so will have to do something with the leftovers as I still have quite a bit left and a person can only eat so many turkey sandwiches.

We will be busy for awhile, as there is a mountain of laundry to do with all the sheets and towels but we will not even try to do it in one day. They are all leaving this afternoon, and it will be a bit lonely until we get used to just having the two of us in the house.

I had Sue help me with the above pictures, and thank heavens we found out that it is not just ourselves that were having all the trouble. Sue had them too, so we know it is our computer that has the glitches that won't let us space properly. I will be glad if and when we ever get our new one. It has been over a month now, and they are sending us a new one. I can only hope that we won't have the problems anymore once the new one is in place.

We actually didn't do a whole lot while they were here. I was sorry that they couldn't come to church with us Sunday, but they had to go to the wedding. Dave's brother's son got married so they were in Orange County most of the day. Of course when they were here, the guys played golf each morning and fortunately we had very mild weather, in the middle 80's, so that was great! Dick, Sue, Dave, Karin, Bob, and I stayed home and just hung out. We did a lot of visiting and reading and just plain resting, altogether not bad at all. It might have been a bit boring for Karin and Bob, but they didn't complain. I think they were just enjoying not having to do anything because they both work pretty hard when they are home. Karin has been working long hours, and Bob has worked seven days a week. They will have that to look forward to when they get home.

Well, I'm off......want to spend a the last couple of hours with Sue before they leave. Dave and Todd should be home fairly soon as they went early. 'Til next Tuesday........................................

Tuesday Time

I honestly did try to have a decent picture for tonight's post, but for some reason none of the ones Dick took of me were good. I think it is because he is taller than I am and he was standing up when he took it and the result is that my body was all weird, my feet looked too small and my head too large. I will try again next Sunday. I will have him sit down so that he is at my level when he takes it. Anyway, I am just not good at the picture thing, as you all know.

We are in the process of getting ready for our company. Today I made oatmeal cookies because every night before he goes to bed, Dave likes to eat an oatmeal cookie and some non fat milk. When he is home, he buys his cookies at the store, so I like to have plenty of home made ones when he comes here. Yesterday morning Dick cleaned a little more than half the garage. I mean he REALLY CLEANED it. He washed every little thing and even mopped the floor after he had vacuumed all of it. This morning he started at 6:00 a.m. and worked another 3 1/2 hours and it is truly clean. It has been a long long time since it has been this clean. Every once in a while I have to go out there just to take a look. He went to mail our new computer back to the company. as they are replacing it, and he noticed that his neck and shoulders started to feel a certain feeling he gets, so as soon as he got home he used this little gizmo that tells him if he is in a-fib and he was! Darn.........but he took a very long rest and fortunately in a few hours he felt better so he tested it again and he was back in a normal sinus rythmn!!! I am so glad because he really needs to be at the church tonight they are having a special meeting on home teaching and he really wanted to be there.

Yes, I'm on my own tonight. Had I not been, I think I would have had him transfer any picture we have on file just to make this post a little more interesting. I could always post a picture of our little Sullivan, who is growing up so darned fast and is doing so very well. I just can't stand it if I don't get to see him every two or three months. It will be a lot longer than that, I am afraid, unless Kristin brings him here this summer. She is expecting my fifth great grandchild the middle of September and it is a girl!! They really wanted one so we are all excited.

We are having our Johnson family reunion in Salt Lake City September l. My mother would have been 130 years old on Sept. l, so I think that is pretty neat! We had our last one three years ago at Sue's. We have them every three years and I am the youngest in my family, which is the reason we had it at Sue's as it was my turn. She has such a much larger house. It was really a good one and I'm sure this one will be fun too. It is the turn of my oldest brother Byron's children to host this one and their daughter, Virginia, lives in Bountiful so they are having it is Salt Lake. Lucky for me because we will get to stay with our daughter Jayne for awhile. We might even try to stay there until Kristin has the baby. I hope she has it on time, or better still a few days early! I also hope that all of my nieces and nephews will be there, for the reunion, that is.

Well, I do think I've rambled on enough for this time. I hope you are all enjoying the spring. It will soon be over. Summer time here in the desert is a pretty warm place to be. We have actually been having pretty warm weather this past week. It has been from around 104 degrees to about 106. Sue, you will be happy to know that our temperatures will go down on Thursday to 85 and will stay in the 80's for a few days. Our forecast takes us through next Tuesday. Sunday(the day you will be gone for the wedding) it will go to 95 and Monday it will be 103. So you will have only one REALLY hot day. The guys should love the cooler temps for Friday and Saturday though. I never could understand how they could play golf on those hot days.

Take care everyone.........I'll be back next Tuesday. Then I can tell you all about the fun we will have had with our loved ones. I know I will be sad because most of them will go home Monday,
but Sue, Dave and Ryan will leave Tuesday morning. My love to all

Darlene

My Mother's Day .

I'll have to apologize right off to a few people, including my daughter Sue, for forgetting to have Dick take a picture of me when we got home from church Sunday in my new Mother's Day duds. The white skirt was one Sue got for me, and the top was one we went shopping for to go with it. I did get a lot of compliments and I will try to remember the next time I wear it to have Dick take a picture of me. With my memory I won't promise anything, but if I do remember, I will post it, however late it may be.

I did have a very great Mother's Day though. I usually can only go to either Sacrament Meeting or Relief Society. We have Sunday School in the middle so it is very hard, if not impossible for me to sit for the three hours. Our benches in the chapel are way too narrow, so are very uncomfortable for me, and were I to be able to go to Sunday School, I would have to sit on metal folding chairs, which are a total no no for me. In Relief Society it isn't too bad. In fact the best seating of the three, because even if we use folding chairs in there, at least they are padded. I did have a dilemma though because I didn't want to miss Sacrament Meeting because our Bishop was to be the last speaker, and he is SO GOOD, I didn't want to miss it. However, his wife, Sheila, teaches the second Sunday in R.S. and I REALLY didn't want to miss her. I usually go to Relief Society the second Sunday each month as it is always such a great meeting and I need to go at least once a month. They had also decided that instead of passing out the Mother's Day treat in Sacrament Meeting (usually a beautiful flower or chocolates) they were going to do it in Relief Society. So, after sitting through Sacrament Meeting (so worth it) I was just too sore and knew I would have to go home and ice my back, they gave me my treat to take home. When we got there, I opened this beautiful beribboned box to find a huge lunch. The young men and women had made the lunch and put it together. This beautiful box contained a large chicken salad sandwich that had sliced grapes and nuts in it, (yummy) in a big croissant, two huge strawberries, a bag of chips, a cake with fudge all the way around it, and a bottle of water. I iced my back while Dick split the lunch (plenty for two) and we ate our lunch while my back was getting back to "normal" in my wonderful chair. After eating our lunch, I decided to go back to Relief Society. So I put another icy gel pack on my back and off we went. I was so glad I did go because the lesson was excellent! The young men and women came in with the beautiful boxes for all the women and everyone had lunch as Sheila gave her lesson. They tried to get me to eat another one, but I was already stuffed. It's no wonder almost everyone took most of their lunch home.

We had a restful couple of hours before eating a big prime rib dinner, which Dick ordered for me from The Outback. He picked it up and it was nice and hot and most delicious. For dessert, we had some chocolate brownie cake that Sue had ordered sent to me from some place in Pennsylvania. It was excellent! The whole day was really a nice one because all of my children called me, plus two of my grandchildren!!! I especially loved that as you might guess.

So now you have heard all about my Mother's Day and I hope all of you mothers had a wonderful day too!

P.S. I told Dick that the next time he saw the Bishop, he would have to tell him not to give a talk on the same day that Sheila was giving her lesson as it was much too hard on me!!