Happy Halloween

Our neighbors Monster truck ready for the Halloween Parade

Taylor, katie, Casey, Sam and Gabby

Our little trick-or-treaters rewards




Happy Halloween to all you ghouls and goblins out there. Did you know that Halloween is one of the worlds oldest holidays? It is still celebrated today in several countries around the globe. The Autumn rite is commemorated in the United Kingdom, although with a surprising and distinctive British twist. In Mexico, Latin America and Spain, All Souls' Day, the third day of the three-day Hallowmas observance, is the most important part of the celebration for many people. In Ireland and Canada, Halloween, which was once a frightening and superstitious time of the year, is celebrated much as it is in the United States, with trick-or-treating, costumes parties, and fun for all ages. Now! wasn't that interesting?? You learn something new everyday. Here in our little town of Hanover Pa. the township always trick-or-treats on the Tuesday before Halloween (don't ask me why) Their Halloween parade is always the Thursday before,(still don't know). Since my grand kids all live in a rural area, they come over to our house and trick-or-treat. It's a family tradition that we all love and we have a lot of fun.

Wordless Wednesday

Hanging in there even now, it's 44 degrees

The six year old pin oak in our back yard at peak color

Jer the Miracle Man

This is an update on Jer's ongoing health problems. We got the results of his cat scan from last Thursday. He has P.A.D in both of his legs, his right arteries are blocked except one vein, he has no pain in that leg because he grew collateral arteries. The left leg (the one he has pain in)from his knee down is severely blocked and is working on some collateral arteries. His main arteries to both kidneys are also severely blocked. The carotid arteries are partially blocked,the left side is 50-70% and the right is less than 50%. He was told to just keep doing what he is doing and that is exercise, exercise, exercise to continue growing the collateral's. The doctor told him he was a miracle man. He will be closely watched by getting blood tests to check his creatine levels and making sure his blood pressure is under control for his kidneys. FYI, Jer also grew collateral arteries in his heart, his circumflex is totally blocked, this is one of the main arteries of the heart. So, did you get all that!!! Sounds pretty scary doesn't it! Jer has a good outlook on everything and plans on continuing doing the things he needs to do. He considers himself Blessed and so do I!

Fun Monday

This is Fun Monday "Scary Edition" and Sayre is the hostess. Her assignment is, tell us about your scariest Halloween as a kid (pictures if you have them) what costume are you wearing this year(if any) pictures of a carved pumpkin or how you decorated your house for Halloween.

As a kid, (that was a long time ago) we lived in Baltimore city, there were tons of houses to go trick or treating to. We used to start two or three days before Halloween and if the people did not give us treats, we would soap up their windows.(we were bad) The Friday before Halloween was called "moving night" or "mischief night" kids would go out and move stuff that neighbors had sitting on porches or in their yards. They would move these objects to near by places, just for fun. Sometimes they would throw eggs at your house or car, wrap toilet paper around tree's or even put your cat down the mail boxes, especially if it was a black cat. My Mom kept a close eye on us kids (5 of us) to be sure we didn't participate in these activities. Soaping windows was the worst we did. Our costumes were always home made, stores did not sell costumes like they do today. My grandmother made most of them, (clown, cowgirl, gypsy, powder puff girl) as we got older, we mostly went as Bums or Hobo's, it was easy to throw together. I don't remember being really scared at Halloween. There really wasn't that many scary costumes around. This was a time when life was very simple and we didn't have a lot of TV shows to watch. Halloween sparks happy memories for me. Always lots of candy, we took big paper grocery bags and had them filled up in no time at all. Multiply this times 5 and you have a bunch of goodies!

The Card Club

Joyce, Lori, Joan, Iris, Jan, Pat and Marie - 1985

The seniors 3 - Lori, Jan and Joyce -23 years later

Having lunch together

I dedicate this blog to Joan Linda Lambdin 5/24/47 -9/11/04

Once upon a time there was a really fun group of girls. They called their group "The card club" even though we only played cards maybe three times. Way back in the late 70's I think it was 1976 two of my girlfriends Joyce and Joan, who happen to be sisters, thought it would be a good idea for our group of girlfriends to meet at each others house once a month to play cards. There were 7 of us at the time, me, Joyce, Joan, Lori, Pat, Marie and Deanna. The number soon went down to 6 because Deanna dropped out (she liked to play cards and we all just talked). It stayed this way for a few years.Then Iris Ann joined us and we were back to 7 again. Barby joined us in 1986 and we were up to eight. We saw each other through divorce, challenges of raising kids,the passing of loved ones, seeing our kids grow up and get married and now being grandparents. We still try to get together, but it has become very hard, the dynamics of this group have changed. The biggest change was the most devastating and that was the loss of our beloved Joan, she was only 57 years old. She was such a vibrant part of our lives, and it has left a void in all of our hearts. Our lives have become so busy with our kids and grand kids that its only a couple of times a year that we get to meet. Barb and Bob moved to florida and Jer and I go down south for the winters. Lately though, it seems like its just down to three of us, Lori, Joyce and myself. Yesterday was one of those times. It's funny how things change when you get older, we used to meet at 8pm and not break up until sometimes dawn(that's no lie). Now we make sure we meet early enough so we don't have to drive in the dark.(guess you can call us old!!) YIKES! We are so blessed to have each other for such a long time and I hope and pray we can continue until we leave this earth. I think we will!

Super Nanny week!

Gabby, Carley, Holly and Casey

Did you know that I am a "Super Nanny"? Well, last night at 7:30pm, my super nanny job was officially over (for the time being) Starting last Sunday afternoon through Thursday evening, I had total care of my two oldest granddaughters Carley and Casey, one wild and crazy yellow lab, a big furry cat and two red ear slider turtles. Kelly and Hugh went on a Cruise to the Grand Cayman islands and Cozumel Mexico and they needed my services. Now I need a vacation! just kidding! Actually things went very well. The girls, got right up every morning, were dressed, made their beds, had breakfast, brushed their teeth, combed their hair and we were out the door to get the school bus all within 45 minutes. Its been a long time since I had to be on any kind of time frame and let me tell you, it was a little stressful. This has been a big reminder of what a great life I have. Most of my days are made up of doing what ever I want (how nice is that!!!) I was glad to turn the reins back over to Kelly and Hugh. Today I will be just GJ to our little Holly for a couple of hours while Tray takes Gabs to school and runs some errands. Now that! I can easily do. I am so lucky to be living close to my girls and granddaughters, I get to see them a lot. Thank you Lord!

New Photo Class

Hey everybody, my niece in law has just started an online photo class for beginners. For more information click here Not only is she Pretty, Smart and Charming, she can also take a good picture. Good luck on your new ventures Tracey, I know you will do well. Love Ya!

Wordless Wednesday

Changing Colors

Almost DoneBush on Fire

NINETEEN YEARS

In the very beginning

Where have all the years gone, today is our 19th anniversary. They say Love is better the second time around, this is so true in our case. We feel so fortunate to have found each other and to share our life together. It has been a very interesting 19 years. When Jer and I met, he was living in Orlando Fl and I was living in Hampstead Md. We met Sept. 1, 1988 at a dance club (Wurlitzer's,an oldies club) on a Friday night. I gave him my # and told him if he was in town again to give me a call and I would meet him for a night of dancing (we both love to dance jitterbug). He was back in town in Oct and Dec, I met him for dancing at Wurlitzer's both times. We exchanged Christmas cards and that was it until Feb 1989. He was coming into town on business and wanted to take me out to dinner. This is when I realized that this guy was special. We stayed in touch by occasional phone calls, then came spring and Easter, Jer invited me to come to his home in Orlando Fl. Well the rest is history, we started a long distance love affair, got engaged in July and were married by Oct 21, 1989. Our wedding took place in Baltimore Md. we were married in Holy Cross Lutheran church and had a reception at the American Legion in Perry hall Md. Our life together started in Jer's house in Orlando fl. We lived there for 6 years and moved to Denver Colorado with Jer's job. After almost 4 years in Colorado, we both retired and moved back to the east coast. Hanover Pa. has been our home now for 9 years and we love it here. We have a blended family of six grown kids and nine grandchildren. The good Lord sure knew what he was doing when he brought us into each others path. As you can see, our blessings are many! Happy Anniversary Honey, I Love You.

Nineteen years and still going strong!

Fun Monday

I am new to this blogging sensation and having a good time with it. Today I decided to do Fun Monday. I hope you all don't mind my joining in. Sarah is the host and her assignment is to document a typical day with your camera and post it. Well, here goes, I will try not to bore you to much! Just remember, my days of getting kids off to school are long gone, although I do occasionally get three of my granddaughters off.

A typical day in the life of Jer and Jan!

Jer fixes a special blend of coffee every morning

We watch the news while having our coffee

Time for breakfast! are you bored yet???

Time to check out email and blogs we follow

We are having chicken in the crock pot tonite

Had to finish up laundry from the weekend




Dropped off some movies

Gassed up

Exercise time

This is just up to this afternoon. I still have to pick up three of my granddaughters from school. Fix dinner, clean up, get ready to watch one of our favorite shows. Dancing with the stars has kept us entertained on Monday evenings. See what you all have to look forward to when

you get OLD !!!!!!!! ha ha, This was fun!

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

Jer has been lining up doctors appointments for over 3 weeks now. He has several health issues he is dealing with, so this requires four different kinds of doctors. Monday he went to see his Cardiologist for a follow up from last months scare, that turned out to be bad acid reflux. This is when they discovered that he had bad circulation in his left leg and was referred to another cardiologist who specializes in Peripheral artery disease. He will be examined next wed and find out what course of action will be taken (possibly an angiogram). Wednesday he went to see an Orthopod about his low back pain. Turns out he has spinal stanosis and a pinched nerve and that could also be affecting his leg (he may need an epidural for that). Today he went to his dermatologist to get his Basil Cell cancer taken off behind his left ear, that surgery went very well, they were able to get all the cancer in one swipe, a skin draft was done from skin taken from Jer's upper chest. Boy! it all sounds worse when you write it down. Hopefully we will get all this stuff taken care of in the next few weeks and Jer will be good as new. Poor guy hasn't been able to play golf for the past six weeks. We just look at each other and say! "Thank God for insurance"

Tea Time for Five

What a beautiful day for a "Tea Party". The sun was bright and the temps were in the mid 70's.

Did I mention that I Love Tea Parties! I think I found my passion in life. This was the 3rd Tea that I have hosted. The usual guests are my dear good friend Alice, my next door neighbor Clara and as always my two lovely daughters Kelly and Tracy. A fall menu of pumpkin and apples were the taste for the day. We started with a Waldorf salad, then cranberry scones with devonshire cream, pumpkin soup and grilled cheese on cinnamon bread with sliced apples and cucumber sandwiches. Dessert was pumpkin cake and apple pie right out of the oven (all home made-of course). A special Thank you to Kelly for the apple pie. Oh! I cant forget the most important thing and that is the Tea, we had two different kind, orange cinnamon spice and Vanilla lemon grass. YUM! Its not just the food, but the company of good friends and family and setting down to a table set with nice china and delicate tea cups (thanks Jer for the tea cups and tea from the UK) is what I Love the most. God is so good to me!

Pumpkins and Mums!

Since it is Fall and everywhere you look you see Pumpkins and Mums, I thought I would do a little research on both. Here are some interesting facts. Mums originated in China, where they have been cultivated for centuries. The first recorded mention of Chrysanthemums was by Confucius in 500 BC. The flowers were thought to have healing properties, and were used as symbols of health and long life. Mums were introduced to the U.S. in the late nineteenth century. Now on to the pumpkins! They get their orange color because they contain massive amounts of lutein, alpha-and beta carotene. These nutrients turn to vitamin A in the body, which regulates cell growth and produce white blood cells. Pumpkin seeds are a good source of iron, zinc, essential fatty acids, potassium, and magnesium. Who knew they were so good for you! I think I will make a pumpkin pie! Mother earth is a wondrous gift from God! Its like magic how it can produce such beauty for our eyes to behold. I love working in the soil, it's a joy for me to plant and water and watch the fruits of my labor appear before my very eyes. Thank you Lord!

Historic Times

As I watch the news everyday, it seems the "America" as I knew it, is slowly disappearing. What the H--- happened to our country??? I am not only hopping "Mad", but so very sad and disenchanted. Sometimes I long for the "Good old days", when people saved their money for a down payment on a house and hoped that the Bank would approve them for a loan. WE never even thought about the Stock Market! There were lots of things you could buy that were made in the U.S. Try to find that now! Our children learned respect and were disciplined by their school teachers. I don't remember too many over weight kids when I was growing up. We played outside all year round (yes, even in the cold), most of our play involved some kind of aerobic exercise, (riding bikes, skating, tag, etc). Our Parents didn't have to sit and watch us play outside, because it was safe from predators. They say this is the "Land of opportunity" well the way I see it, we have provided opportunity for everyone else except our own people. Our fore fathers came from all over the world to form our nation. The constitution was founded on "Christian principles"What happened to these principles????? They took prayer out of our schools and off of some currency (afraid it would offend some none Christian's). Instead of standing up for our principles, we allowed people from other countries to come live here and change our way of life. Like most parents, Jer and I would like to think that our children and grandchildren will have a better life then we did, but in our hearts and minds, we know the simple times are gone forever. Our nation just took on more debt and guess who is going to wind up paying for this! You guessed it, our kids and grand kids. We are thankful and blessed that we made some good choices and saved our hard earned money. This has allowed us to live comfortably and able to enjoy retirement and grow old together. It will be a lot harder for our kids and grand kids to achieve this unless we turn our government around and get some good leadership for our Country!