Retina Fold

Same Entry as the other journal because I want this to be read by as many people as possible, not that I have that many journal readers.....

Acceptance

I am not doing so well. I went to the eye doctor (specialist) and got drops, for my regular checkup.  I keep a close guard on my eyes as my Mom had macular degeneration and became blind and my sister has glaucoma.

The doctor said to me that I have a "retina fold" on my left eye.  That explains the vision change I have noticed and it's been bothering me for a few months.  I was hoping it was that my cataract had grown, but that is not it.

The whole point is, this isn't correctible.  It can't be "fixed."  Cataracts can, & I will eventually have surgery on both of mine when they are ready.

But I will never see like I did before this DAMN retina fold, with or without glasses.

I know I am assuming the worst, but I can't help my mood, I am scared. Everything I like to do requires my eyes!

If anyone has this or has heard of this, or would just like to offer me some aid in dealing with the acceptance of this condition, please, oh please email me.  I am in the pits.  I don't know if I can take any more things being wrong with me.

Yeah, I know I am full of myself right now, but I can't seem to help it.  I have so many things that can't be fixed.  My neck, my back, my feet, and you know I am sick of it.

I also am bright enough to realize I should be counting my blessings and looking at all the conditions and diseases that I do NOT have. And I will, I promise I will.  Just right now, I am like a little kid stomping my feet and saying, "I don't like this, I don't like this one bit!"

HELP!

Love, Merry

Baby Jack

If at all possible we will go see "Jack" as soon as we can get there after he is born. If Dave is working a different direction or part of the state, we may have to wait.  I don't drive in bigger towns than Mason City, anymore.   (I use to, but am not use to it anymore, and can't turn my neck much anymore (because of my neck and back problems) so don't think I should push myself to drive more. I drive enough to get to the store, the doctor, the drug store, the hospital or the mall downtown. But Mason City is only 29,000 people!  Cedar Rapids is about 2 X that, and a little over 2 hours away and I don't think I could or should drive there (though I would have at one time.)

 

I think I am going to forever think of this baby as "Jack" now that Tim started that.  It started as a joke, a nickname for Tim and Patti to call him, until he was born. But I think of "Jack" all the time.  I think when I first see him, no matter what THEY name him,  I will say, "Oh Jack, I love you!  Welcome to our world!"  LOL   I can't wait to see and meet "Jack!!"  Maybe he will always be "Jack" to me?? LOL  Yep, this is getting exciting!

 

Well, I am getting a bit pleasingly plump (HA like there is no such thing to me about gaining ANY weight that is "PLEASING" to me in any way!!),like Grandma's use to be at least-- but it wasn't part of my plan in becoming a grandmother, but that's a whole other issue.

 

Love ya!!!

Merry

 

2nd Ultrasound

Hi Journal Friends!

 

Our son Tim just called me, 2nd ultra sound showed the boy parts.  He is 2 lb. now.  "Jack" (baby's nickname) is moving a lot, too!  The due date has been moved up to May 18.  Everything is perfect, right on schedule and all seems normal.  Patti got a shot because of the blood difference, already.  When I had Tim, they didn't have shots for those blood difference (antibody) differences. (That's why I can't give blood.) (or so I was told). Modern medicine can be wonderful, future problems prevented (like with future pregnancies, etc.)  Everything is starting to be REAL real to me now!  Patti is doing just fine.

 

My husband Dave is in Sioux City, IA.  The dogs and I are "batching it."  LOL He said it is warmer there, heck it is warmer almost everywhere.  It has been in the - temps at least at night for 15 days here.

 

Hope you are all as well as possible!

Love,

Merry

Computer nuts

I love this one!  Thanks Renee!

Man & horses- Gorgeous

> http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqvvn_lorenzo

 

Check this one out, it's very neat!

Love,

Merry

Older Than Dirt

 The top part of these were more from when my parents grew up.

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?"

"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All the food was slow."

"C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

 

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day. Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look larger. 

 

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie." When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning.. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite c ustomers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren.. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with  water  because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

 

Try this, if you want and send me back your answers!  I'd love to read them!

How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.  Yep I remember that.
Ignition switches on the dashboard. Yep, I remember that.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycleswithout chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.  I had a grandparent that had an old car that did that, but I thought it was because the signals didn't work.  Now, I am not sure!

Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum  Yeah
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water Yeah
3. Candy cigarettes  for sure, I smoked them when my parents smoked or I played movie star with my friend Marcia.
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles  Of course!
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes Yup, I remember!
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers I remember the glass bottles they were put in a stainlesss steel box that was suppose to keep the milk somewhat cool.
7. Party lines  Yes, the phone we had at our Lake  Cabin had a party line. 
8. Newsreels before the movie Sure!
9. P.F. Flyers  My husband talks about that
10. Butch wax My husband talks about that, too.
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933) Yes!
12. Peashooters The boys shot us girls with them
13. Howdy Doody Now, I know this really dates me, but I do remember this vagulely.
14. 45 RPM records  For sure, little things!
15. S&H Green Stamps  Yes, I even saved them to buy (redeeem) them for things for the house when I first got married. It took a lot of stamps to get anything good!

16 Hi-fi's  Heck I think we even had one!
17. Metal ice trays with lever For sure
18. Mimeograph paper Sure, do, had them in school
19 Blue flashbulb Nope
20. Packards Only because my husband has shown me pictures of them, he loves old cars
21. Roller skate keys  My sister had skates like that
22. Cork popguns I heard of them but didn't have one
23. Drive-ins The eating kind or the movie kind?  I remember both!
24. Studebakers  Yes, because Dave is an old car buff
25. Wash tub wringers  Yes, I even had one!

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 1 6-25 = You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life.  I wouldn't say those were the best days of my life, you had to work harder.   But a lot of people might have loved them.

Don't forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends....

Let me know how many you remember, you younguns!

Love,
Merry

vAL'S CHRISTMAS TREE DEALIE

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  

 

wrapping paper  but the cute bags are neat , too.

2. Real tree or artificial?  

We usually get a REAL flocked tree, but they are so expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But you get the good smell and but not much needle droppage.
3. When do you put up the tree?  Usually the FIRST week of Dec.  Not this year though.

4. When do you take the tree down? ME TOO!  But usually that's by Jan first.  When it's over it is over!

5. Do you like eggnog?  Mmmmmmmmmmmm... YES!  Not the alcoholic kind, though. Exactly the same for us!  But the darn eggnog IS fattening!
 
6. Favorite gift received as a child?  My doll that said Momma is #1 and then my "Toni" doll which we gave home perms too.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?  I am always scared I am going to break it. I gave my Mom's really good one to Tim, as he likes them more than me.  I have a couple and they are smaller.  I don't especially like putting it up or taking it down, but I do love looking at it!
8. Hardest person to buy for?  Oh, everyone.  I am a stressed-out gift buyer You took the words right out of my mouth. We are a lot alike!

9. Easiest person to buy for?  A good book reading friend, or Amazon.com.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?  Snail mail is more proper. And what I TRY TO DO IF 

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  A sweater Dave got me he loved and I hated .  NOT nice, I know.
 
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  Jimmy Stewart starred in it,     "It's a Wonderful Life."
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?<FONT lang='0face="Comic' color=#004000 FAMILY="SCRIPT" PTSIZE="10" MS? Sans>  Early to mid December.  If I start any earlier I spend too much otherwise! 
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  No way. but I thought of it (don't tell.)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Not much on sweets.  Just good meals!  Chrismtmas Eve and Christmas Day and the presence of at least some family.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?  Dave likes the Multi and he puts them up so that is what we have.  I sorta like the white clear ones though. 
17. Favorite Christmas song(s)?  "Silent Night", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Stay at my warm house, I hope I hope.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?  "On Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, on Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen!"... and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
 
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? 

 

We have a star but it's cuz our this years tree is artificial white.  but honest it's pretty.  And the angel is from Precious Moments in Carthage, MO and beautiful but very heavy.

 

 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Dave likes Christmas Eve but I like Christamas Day though we were raised opposite of that. Tim liked half and half. Don't know but don't think that they wlll be with us or us with them on the actual holiday....firsttime ever but for the year Tim was in Korea.  But we'll have a Christmas together sometime around that time.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?  Commercialism.  People forgetting the reason for the season.  That it goes by too fast  ALSO CHRISTMAS MUSIC IN THE STORES SO LOUD AND OVER ANED OVER AND OVER.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?  No theme, hodge-podge  (ME TOO!)

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?  Turkey first, 2nd choice roast beef........primie rib type.
25. Do you have Jesus in your heart this Christmas? ABOSLUTELY!

I would love to see your answers to this!  If you want to copy and paste and do this in your journal, please leave your entry URL in my comments section so I can come take a look!  Thanks and Merry Christmas!  xox