where's dan-o???

(click photo to enlarge;)

can you find me in this photo taken just a little over 20 years ago???

i was there...
wouldn't have missed it for the world:)

love and blessings,
dani (aka, "dan-o") xx

my impatient patient...

yesterday was a very long day...
spent with a VERY impatient
patient!!!

(my john)

john was supposed to be at methodist hospital
yesterday morning at 8:30 am for his 9:15 am
colonoscopy.

we arrived at 8:15 am.

john hasn't been having any problems or anything.
this was just a routine test that he needed to have...
a baseline test if you will.

(now, before i go any further, i'm just going to say it:
i have found that men are the most pitiful beings
when it comes to medical issues!!!)

wednesday, john came home and immediately started
his pre-test regime of laxatives and fluids.
within thirty minutes of drinking his first drink of gatorade,
he looked and acted like he'd come down with the flu...
and not just any flu...
like the bird flu!!!
you know
something MAJOR!!!

i would have felt very sorry for him
had i not myself already had three of these tests
in the past.

there he sat in the chair-and-a-half
covered up from nose to toe
shivering.

well, that went on all night...

so, when yesterday morning finally arrived,
i swear he looked like death.
but there was NOTHING the matter with him!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

back to the hospital...

as i said we arrived a little early,
but they took john back soon after we sat down in the waiting area.

about 30-45 minutes later, the same nurse that took him back to day surgery reappeared and said my name. i looked up and smiled at her. she said that i could come on back as he was ready.

wow, i thought, this is the fastest methodist hospital has ever done anything that i can remember!!!

john had told me that the test itself would only take about 15 minutes but still...

well, i walked in to the room to which she directed me expecting to find my groggy, pitiful husband. instead, i found an alert, pitiful husband awaiting his turn.

it was a little after 9 am. i sat and we talked a little and listened to the nurses gossip outside his opened door. then he turned on the tv, and i started working a puzzle.

"dani, what time is it???" john asked.

"twenty-one minutes after nine," i answered.

"THEY'RE LATE," he quipped.

"john, only six minutes..." i said.

one can only imagine how irritated he was when 10 am rolled around and he still hadn't been taken back for his test (irritated like saying that the doctor was going to owe john for john's time irritated)

ROTFLMAO!!!

john hasn't ever been sick, he doesn't have a family doctor (he's never needed one), and he's never been at anyone else's mercy; so, he was just getting a taste of what the rest of us have come to expect; right!!!

i walked into the hall. all three nurses looked at me and almost in unison inquired if they, respectively, could help me.

i asked when he would be taken for his test.
one of the nurses grabbed his chart and said,
"his test is scheduled to begin at 10:30..."

before she could get out that it would be about another 30 minutes,
john hollers, "my test was supposed to be at 9:15, 9:15;
this is bs (only he didn't say bs;)!!!"

i grinned and shrugged as the nurse whispered to me that scheduling must have bumped him and failed to let him know.

my guy was NOT a happy camper

until...

after the procedure (drugs) and all was declared to be ok!!!

i guess it was all just too much for him.
(i KNOW it was too much for me, tee-hee!!!)

my poor john has been on edge and cursed more in the last 6 days than in the last 6 years combined!!!

it's good to have back MY good ol' guy:D

love and blessings,
dani xx

things that are bothering me right now...

things don't normally bother me...
they really don't!!!
you can ask anyone who knows me:)

you can go back through my posts,
i don't think you will find many complaints
other than...
my puppy dog's smelly feet and
my dieting woes, of course...
ha!!!

but, today there are 2 or 3 things
that are weighing heavily on my mind:

1. our economy- the state of our economy has not seriously, directly affected me, yet. but, i know it is affecting others, and it breaks my heart. it really does!!!
it bothers me that our country has failed to oversee the goings-onon wall streetand thus the domino effect of our poor economic conditionsare affecting not only americans but the world as a whole.

to those friends of mine abroad, i'm sorry!!!

to those friends of mine who are fellow americans,
we need to be more educated and vigilant.
we need to raise our expectations of our leaders
and hold those leaders accountable!!!

2. the 2008 presidential election- this election scares me even more than the last election did(and that is saying A LOT)!!!

I DON'T BELIEVE THAT EITHER CANDIDATE
WILL BE GREAT FOR OUR COUNTRY!!!

i fear that john mccain's age will be a factor that he cannot overcome. as i watched the debate last night, i watched the man i will vote for (i am very conservative in my beliefs) look, move, and talk like a very old man. it didn't help that his contender looked, moved, and spoke like a very young man.
speaking of his contender, there are many things that bother me about him. mccain has been referencing the fact that although obama has penned two memoirs,
obama is still no "open book".

mccain has never spoken truer words!!!

these are just a few of the things we don't know about obama:

1. Occidental College records -- Not released
2. Columbia College records -- Not released
3. Columbia Thesis paper -- "not available"
4. Harvard College records -- Not released
5. Selective Service Registration -- Not released
6. Medical records -- Not released
7. Illinois State Senate schedule -- "not available"
8. Law practice client list -- Not released
9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate - - Not released
10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth -- Not released
11. Harvard Law Review articles published -- None
12. University of Chicago scholarly articles -- None
13. Record of baptism-- Not released or "not available"
14. Illinois State Senate records--"not available"

these are MAJOR things and very bothersome to me
given that obama is leading in the polls!!!

if you know any of the above information to be untrue,
please let me know:)

3. education- it is also very much so bothering me when i see how very little katherine has really learned over the past 8 years in the public school system. she has been in the duke university talent pool since 4th grade for mathematics (katherine went to a private school k-3); yet, she knows very little about much else.
she brought her report card home last friday. she had 5 a's and 1 b (missing an a by 2/100's of a point); i feel she has actually learned very little, though her grades are always high.
cnn reports that the next generation to graduate in the usa will likely be the first generation to graduate with less knowledge than that of the generation before them.

that's all for now...
i just pray that things will settle
and there will be a positive turn-around soon!!!

i also pray that regardless of who wins the election
that he will pleasantly surprise us!!!
i'd totally welcome a pleasant surprise;
wouldn't you???

love and God's blessings,
dani xx

IT'S TANIA'S DAY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAR FRIEND!!!

(tania with caitlin:)

when i started blogging, i did so
to keep keep up with friends
and to keep a record of this and that
for katherine.

however, not long after i started, i happened onto sheye rosemeyer's blog. there were several of us that commented each day as a way to support sheye in the loss of her beautiful super-princess, ava. it was there and then that friendships began to form.

one such friendship that was formed was between
tania (little sweethearts)
and me.

i can remember leaving her a comment (my first on her blog) about different activities she could do for her son's birthday party. several days later she responded.
i was thrilled!!!

we became fast friends:D

actually something clicked and 6 of us (tabitha (uk), amanda (scotland), tania (belgium), elise (australia), and tanya (australia)) became "fast friends"!!!

what a gift!!!

tania came up with the brilliant idea of us puting together
the "snail mail bunch"!!!

it has been so much fun sending and recieving
not only blogger comments and email
but also "snail mail"!!!

tania is a lovely, lovely person. she has a sweet, romantic husband...

(kenneth proposing a renewal of their wedding vows:)
and two beautiful children...

(princess caitlin and prince robin:)

she aslo has a heart of platinum;)
as she was one of the first to get on the nielson bandwagonand donate from her etsy store(HERE)to aid in their recovery after an horrific plane crashnearly took their young lives.

tania is all that, HONESTLY, and so, so much more!!!

i am so blessed to have the honor of calling her
"friend".
please feel free to leave my dear friendbirthday wishes here at "give me...",or go over and visit her,or (even better yet) in both places!!!

love, knuffels (hugs), and blessings,
dani xx

ps if you visit tania's blog and comment,
HERE!!!
you will be entered to win
a set of darling Christmas ornaments
she created commemorating not only her birthday
but also her 100th post!!!
good luck:D

mosses monday V

(snowbirds in florida)

george and lucy moss were snowbirds. when the holidays were over, they would head to lauderdale by the sea, florida, to enjoy the sunshine, sand, the ocean, and friends who went there each year since retirement to escape the cold of winter. they were usually gone for three months or so.

though they were away from home and i was away from them, we were never far from each others thoughts.

i remember each week hurrying back to my dorm room to receive either their call or a sweet voice message mrs. moss would have left me on my answering machine - messages i saved, of course:)

"dani, this is mrs. moss," she would start in her gravely, sophisticated voice, "george and i were just calling to check on you. we hope you are having a good day. we love you...  BEEEEEEEEP!"

in the late 1980's, however, the mosses' florida sabbatical took a very different turn. mrs. moss became very ill and was hospitalized. she was symptomatic of having leukemia. they really didn't know what was wrong with her, but her condition continued to deteriorate.
i was so worried about her!

she underwent an extensive series of tests including even a very painful bone marrow draw from her fragile body's breast bone. finally, a specialist discovered  she had a rare vitamin b deficiency...

NOT cancer, thank God!
regardless, mrs. moss had a long recovery ahead of her. she had lost a lot of weight and muscle tone; she was as weak as a dish cloth.

finally, though, they were able to return home so she could continue to recover in the comfort of her home on the court.

the saturday after their return, i called to ask if i could come by for a visit.

"ABSOLUTELY!" was the response i received from mr. moss. 

so, i stopped by our local flower shop and asked that they make me a bouquet of fresh flowers... 10 minutes later, the lady brought me the biggest, most beautiful "bouquet" of cut, spring flowers i'd EVER seen, really!!!

i placed them in the seat next to me and headed toward their home.

i rang the door-bell.
i could barely see over the flowers (they were massive)...
when the door opened, there stood mrs. moss  grinning ear to ear...  her little nose wrinkled.

mr. moss was standing over her shoulder.

"well, bless your heart, dani, come in here," he said as he helped me into their house.

"these are for mrs. moss..." i said as he took the flowers. "there are more here than i thought; i don't know what to tell you to do with them." i giggled and shrugged. 
(they were not going to fit in a vase... maybe an umbrella stand, but NOT a vase;)

"ooohhhh, they are beautiful, dani, you didn't have to bring me anything. i'm just tickled to see you," said mrs. moss.  (when she saw that BUNDLE, she probably never spoke more sincere words as "you didn't have to".)
ha! 
after an hour and a half (or so), 4 LARGE vases full of flowers, and several apologies, we had all the flowers arranged. i felt horrible feeling as if i had brought work to my dear, fragile friend...

she wouldn't hear of the apologies and assured me this kind of "work" was just what the doctor ordered...

for years after, we laughed about that special time we spent talking, cutting stems, and arranging, cutting (more and more) stems and arranging... though i felt bad at the time, i now look at that day as nothing short of a gift from God. 
~@~ 

the sweet "thank you" note i received...



(you may click photos to enlarge)

(to be continued...)

love and blessings,
dani xx

ps you will find earlier entries in ascending order on my side bar entitled, "our love story":) 

maggiepie and the rest of the story...

(maggie, 2 1/2 years later) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ok, well, after typing my post yesterday, my darling john returned from the hardware store and stated that the next time i needed to call the plumber as he marched off to katherine's loo... from katherine's bathroom, i heard sounds of him working fervently to repair the damage.such sounds as cursing, water spraying all over the place (BUT, no longer dripping;), doors slamming, and tools being dropped (and thrown) were streaming through the house. i totally dig saturdays:b finally, john came back into our room (where i was hiding) with a phone book in hand and requested that i call a plumber. being that it was saturday, i got mostly answering machines. i left messages of despair along with our telephone number. no response. a bit later, john returned (sweat dripping from his brow and nose). "did you get me a plumber???" he asked."not yet, dear (you gotta love the term of endearment i added;)," i continued. "i left messages; but, it IS saturday, and most places are closed.""well, call another one," he quipped (angry at himself... not at me)."all the other ones are septic people," i explained while looking again through the names in the directory. "there is ace plumbing; but don't you think that's just the hardware store???""call 'em, and see if they know of someone who can come fix this damn thing," my dear stomped out of the room. so, i called. they actually had a plumber on call (YESSSSSSSSSS!!!). the operator linked my call to "bruce". bruce told me that he and his buddy were finishing up a job about an hour away and that he'd be on his was over after that."oh, thank you, bruce!!!" i could have hugged the stranger's neck.that was at 1:30 pm. at 5:30 we still had not heard from bruce; so, i called the dispatcher back to make sure bruce had our telephone number. the nice lady said that he did and should be calling soon. at 7:30, my cell phone rang. "miss berrong, this is bruce. listen, i JUST checked with my supervisor, and i am not licensed to plumb in the state of kentucky. i sure hope you can find somebody to fix your problem today..." what else could i say but, "ok, thank you"??? i knew john was going to love this. i quickly told him, he got totally pissed off, i left the room quickly, and he returned to his plumbing job. i did get on the internet to see if i could help him. i was online less than a minute, when i figured out the problem. "when you went to the hardware store this morning, did you buy a valve seat???" i asked. "YES!!!" he answered. "well, where is the original one??? it says that you should only replace it as a last resort because many of the new ones on the market don't fit..." i was such a font of knowledge. "well, i dropped the bastard, but this new one should work," he showed me the new one. not only did he drop the b&^$#%^d, he dropped it down between katherine's wall and the bathroom wall!!! much longer story (it's still broken)... shorter,i asked john to turn on the water main to the house.we took showers, flushed potties, and went to bed... while in katherine's bathroom... there was still a "drip". ..
(the "DRIP")

(i had to capture this quickly and quietly...)

love and blessings,
dani xx

john is plumbing...

and i need to potty (sorry, but i do!!!)...
brush my teeth, shower, shampoo and shave!!!
not to mention katherine does, too:o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

two nights ago, i mentioned to john that katherine's faucet was dripping in her bathroom (first mistake) and i inquired if i could just turn the water off leading directly to her tub... as she uses our shower and not her tub, anyway.

"i fixed that," he replied.

those of you who read me on a regular basis KNOW that john (meaning well) tries hard but is NOT handy.

"well, i don't know when you fixed it," i replied, "but it is and has been dripping."

"i fixed that months ago," he continued. "i can fix it; there is no need to turn the water off leading to the tub. it's probably just a "whatchamacallit" that needs to be replaced." (he didn't call it a "whatchamacallit", by the way... i just cannot remember what he said needed to be replaced (maybe a gasket???).)

anyway, this is the current situation:

(a panel in katherine's room located directly behind her tub's faucets)

1. john has turned off the water main.
(there is no water leading to the house.)

2. john is gone.
(i assume he is at a hardware store somewhere in town.)

3. no water is coming from any faucet in the house.
(except, for some reason, the pipes (in the photo above) have a steady stream of water coming from them dripping straight down into the furnace room in our basement. AND the faucet in kat's tub is also STILL dripping???)

4. i did remove katherine's nightlight (in the photo above) from the equation since it was a gift from her great aunt.
(i KNOW john has a "snake light" for emergencies such as these somewhere in this house. i know he does because i bought it for him (second mistake!!!) .)

5. did i say that my sweet husband is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND???
(yeah, i thought so...)

anyway, that's my morning in a nutshell:/
how has yours been???

love and blessings,
floating eyes, stinky dani with a drip xx

another pot of coffee

and a warm puppy at my feet...

(maggie 3 months old:)

john must have thought that the "whole-pot-of-coffee" thing worked so well yesterday (five loads of laundry... CHECK!!!) that he'd try it again today, ha!!!

he is soooooooooooooooooo passive aggressive;
but i've sooooooooooooooooooo got his number:b

i'm thinking it will be a good day to decorate the front porch for fall. i bought new cushions for my wicker chairs and a new wreath for the front door.

that will take all of ten minutes...

WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY CAFFEINATED SELF THE REST OF THE DAY???

any ideas???

love and GOd's blessings,
dani xx

13 things thursday...

1. i could see my breath in this morning's brisk, fall air:)
2. i am really enjoying my facebook account...
3. look me up, i'd love to "chat" with you:D
4. we have decided NOT to head to florida next week due to petrol shortages.
5. john made me a WHOLE pot of coffee this morning...
6. hence, he must be hoping for a "thursday accomplishment":?
7. i'll endeavor not to let him down... LAUNDRY!!!
8. john is getting ready to celebrate 35 years with "his company":)
9. in 35 years, he has only ever taken 2 "sick days"...
10. my guy is an OVER ACHIEVER, tee-hee!!!
11. my cats got a reprieve... and a new litter box:]
12. i still have 35 pounds to lose...
13. obviously, my diet didn't go as planned!!!.

love and blessings,
dani xx

a funny little ditty...

i was downloading photos from my phone and remembered i'd videoed this from our weekend at the lake (pardon the burp; bahahahahahahahaha!!!):



my aunt's rendition of this:



i love lucy and ethel;
i love my family!!!

TEE-HEE:b

ENJOY!!!

love and blessings,
dani xx