Since My Farewell

Hello!  It's me! I am back!

Really didn't want to get back to doing this, but what else is there to do except sit here on the computer and grow old. May as well be doing something that everybody says they enjoy!

It has been about three years since my last Blog. I am not really sure I should do them but a few people really enjoy my jibber jabber. So I will do this one and see how it goes. I guess in all reality a lot of things have been going on for the last three years. So here goes. Some of the things I will write about some of you will already know so bear with me until I get to some of the newer things.

First of all, November 2014 is here and we'll celebrate several birthdays and Thanksgiving! Gary and Greg have birthdays and so does "Little Barb", Barbara Dunham.

Sadly, I lost my dear little friends. First Mia got sick and had to go to pet heaven. It was really a hard time to go through, sad being without her. She was around a pretty long time. She was My best friend. She just had to sleep with me and she would shed her fur all over me! I had her for 15 years 6 months. Along with that my allergy's were crazy. But I didn't care. I had a best friend who would tell me when it was time to go to bed, to feed her and to let her sleep on three quarters of the bed. She was a big cat.
After Mia was gone I still had my little Honey, who was no bigger than a minute, she only weighed  seven pounds her whole life. We went through our pet grooming for  fifteen years and 6 months. Then she started losing weight and not eating as she should. I took her to the Vet and she said her organs were shutting down. Of course by that time she was 17 yrs 6 months. I was happy to have had her that long. They sure made a happy life for me. Without them it would have been a boring one. But now that I am as old as I am I will not have any more animals. It was a lot of work taking care of them. They were worth every minute of the things we went through together. Honey being a Persian required a lot of work. I do miss them. So, may they RIP with all the other sweet animals I had in my lifetime!

Well, pretty many things have been going on around here since the last blog! Hope I can remember them!  When I think of them I will write them down so I can tell you about them.
Some time ago LaVella came up, I think it was in 2012, and all we did was go around taking pictures of the main attractions in Cincinnati. It was really a lot of fun. Got a lot of great shots. Emily is the Property Manager for The Reserve on 5th & Race and she asked LaVella to do the pictures to hang in the halls.

As usual, I have been doing a lot of work and research on the Family Tree.   Two weeks ago we went to Vincennes Indiana to do research on the Martin family. We did find their graves and went to see a lot of the historical places down there. The George Rogers Clark Memorial is sitting on top of the earth where my GRGR Grandfather’s house was, down along the Wabash River.   It is a beautiful river. Ever since I have had the song “On The Banks of The Wabash, Far Away” stuck in my head!  I have to admit I couldn’t quite remember the words so I looked it up on the web. The river looked so peaceful.

We went to the Archives down there and got a few things on the family, like marriage applications, and a couple city directory listings. Found their graves. No headstones for Magdalena or Henry. They did have headstones on the Laval family graves. So, all in all, it was a good trip. Just wish we could have come home with more. Do have some nice pictures that we had taken. I'm so happy I got to see where my GRGR Grandmother and Grandfather are resting in peace. They have some of the August Laval family with them in the same plot.

Found one of their sons, John H. Martin, resting in Texas. He died in San Antonio Texas in 1914. The informant that gave his information said Magdalena’s last name as Stiedle. Now, Grandma Ochs spelled it Steedle. I guess it all depended on how it sounded to you! So I have not found his wife’s name as of yet. The more I look, the deeper it gets. More brick walls! There is a lot of history in that little town.

I was telling Gary some of it and I think I got a little of it wrong. It was William Henry Harrison that dealt with the Shawnee Indians! Tecumseh and he pow wowed over giving the land so settlers could come and put their mark. Needless to say who won. So they have a statue of Tecumseh down there memorializing him.
Well, it is a beautiful cool day out there and I think I just may go out and enjoy it. Will try to do more the next time. Have to try to remember. I can think of things but have to save for the next time. 

So take care and Enjoy your life.

Hugs to all,
Barbara

More Family News

Wow, July is here already!

Well, as they say, “Summer is almost over”. It has been busy to start. I took my brother Sonny to the Doctor to set up a date for the colonoscope, as some of you already know. Had to call the coumadin clinic to let them know he was going off of medication for three days. They suggested I call his health care Doctor and find out if it is okay. They then called me to say I had to check with his Heart Doctor to see if he needs a Heprin Bridge. They have started using this on Coumadin patients who are going to have outpatient procedures. Anyway they had the wrong cardiologist name in his file. So I called his Cardiologist and they said they would let us know in the morning. Dr Hirsh was not in the office. In the meantime his regular doctor called and said that they contacted the cardiologist and he said it would be okay. Well his Cardiologist office called and wanted to know the name and fax number of the Doctor who was going to do this procedure as he doesn’t want him to have it if it isn’t absolutely necessary. So we were in limbo until we heard for sure on Tuesday. Don’t ever think, if you have more than one Doctor, that they know what the other is doing or knows. Well, it finally came together and we were informed he has the procedure on the 14^th.

I received word from cousin Marcella that a 2^nd cousin, Ceola Puckett had passed away due to an aneurism. She was 86 years old. I didn’t know her, as I said before after Mom moved us to the eastern part of town I didn’t get to know the extended side of the Sarver Family. My prayers and love go out to the family she left behind. She was very close to my Aunt Louise (AKA Sis) . Louise is the only surviving Aunt on my Dad’s side of the family. She will be 82 in September. Louise was named after Ceola’s mother. She is not taking her passing very well I am told.

On a lighter note we had a pleasant family holiday gathering we went to the the Dulle’s. Planned on staying for a couple of hours. Ended up staying around four. There were 1^st,2^nd,3^rd,4^th cousins there. Had a nice time and visit. My Cousin Charles (AKA Butch) was telling me he had test done . They found a spot in his lung. It is very small . So prayers are with you Butch. He has recovered from a lot of horrible things. He had an accident a couple years ago that was a miracle he pulled through. We all love you and sending those prayers for a blessing there isn’t any thing to heal . Prayers were answered. Butch let us know every thing was okay, no problems.

Love to All………Barbara

Farewell To The Blog

Well, here it is January and all of February has passed. We did have a few warmer days. It got up to 42 degrees for two days. That was a blessing as I needed to take Honey the cat to get groomed. Her coat was getting so long and started to mat up around the mane. This cat doesn’t like her coat to get long. So I made an appointment to have her groomed. The morning I had to take she went into hiding. By the time I located her I was ready to take her to the pound to get a new home. Sonny would look in the closet and she would go out the other side and hide under the bed. Then when she saw he was coming to look under the bed she would go back in to the closet. All the time he is upstairs looking for her by himself. So I went up and she was caught. He said she was on the other side away from him. So when she saw that I was coming into the room she stayed put. I got the broom handle and tried to shove her out and I had to be careful, as I didn’t want to hurt her. After all, I have to pay the vet bill and you all know what they charge. Finally she came out. Sonny picked her up and he put her in the pet taxi. We took her and all the way to the groomers she didn’t make a sound. So when they called and said she was ready I went to pick her up. I told the girl about the little episode and said she just had her thirteenth birthday and the girl said awe go in that box and get her a toy for her birthday. I said Bad girls don’t get gifts. She just laughed; I just don’t know what got into her. She was always easy to put into the pet carrier. Oh well, she can have her day

LaVella, Candy and my brother Dalbert had their birthday’s in the month of January. I hope they all had a great one.

We have had a few snowy days out there. Too many as far as I was concerned.

Well I think this is going to be my last blog as there is so much going on and no time to do it. I just run out of things to talk about. Don’t have much company any more. Everyone is busy doing his or her own thing. But that is okay. My thing was my family. They are big kids now and have their own things to do or they have moved away. You don’t realize how lonely it is with out your kids around until they don’t come around. I can understand. Well maybe some of you do also. I am just living too darn long, that is the problem. I have too much time to sit and think. In the winter months any way. I enjoy the peace and quite but on the other side I miss all the family outings in the summer months. Oh well just the time of year. Sure will be glad to be able to get out and walk. Going to go up to Michigan for a few days with my Carol. Of course she doesn’t know it yet. But I am sure she won’t mind.

I got to see my little Zillah this week and she is so cute. Can’t wait until she gets back over to see me. I just don’t want to put any pressure on Sarah to have her think she has to come over too often as there are so many she has to visit. Everyone has to have his or her time. I am glad for all the time I already had. Another upcoming event that is going on is Zilliah will be christened in March – that will be exciting.

Another thing is Jenni always sends me those cute little clips of Gabe that I really enjoy getting. He is growing so fast. What a cute little guy. He sure is an adventurer. She does wonderful things with him. So glad she is able to stay home with him. Nothing like Mommy teaching him his basics.

Well, the sun is shinning and it is going up to sixty-three degrees today, hopefully it won’t rain. So that is about it for now. I hope you all have a great year. If I have any thing exciting come up I will jump in here and let you all know about it. So have a good year.

Love to all

Mom, Auntie, Cuz, Grandma and Friend

Christmas Holiday 2010

Early December . . .

Well, here it is December and I am getting anxious for our trip to the Smoky Mountains. I love the mountains and it has always been my desire to have Christmas there. Sorry that there are a few in the family that won’t be there. But we will be thinking about them.

The excitement of getting ready is overwhelming. Try to get things together to make sure we have every thing in the cabin we need. I probably will get there and they will have every thing we need. But that is okay, best be safe than sorry.

The Day Arrives . . .

On the way down we had a few traffic hold ups.  One was working crews trying to get the orange cones up. I think they forgot to do it the day before as I saw no sign of them working any where. The second back up was a tractor-trailer belly up. That was all in Kentucky. After that it was fairly good trip.

When we arrived it was rather shocking to see how high in the Mountains we were. The woman I talked to said we didn’t need four-wheel drive.  It was questionable, but sure was beautiful. When Carol, Robert, Crystal and Mischa arrived I thought Crystal was going to go into panic mode from the height of the cabin in the mountains.  Thankfully, we all made it in and out. It was beautiful when it snowed. It was fantastic to say the least.  The cabin was beautiful. I might add they had everything you would need. Didn’t use the things I took. The cookies I made did get eaten. The company was fantastic.  Food was great.

Gabe had the “Wow’s” and “Hi’s” going on. What an adorable child. Mischa was her usual little “Miss Personality”. She sat out cookies and milk for Santa. The look on her face when they were gone in the morning was priceless.  She was so thrilled that Mrs. Santa ate a lot of the extra cookies sitting out. She said, ”She almost ate all of them!”, with a big smile on her face. So cute!

Christmas morning I woke up and looked outside after taking a shower and getting dressed. I went out and the snow was coming down really heavy, so I went out in my socks and started taking pictures.  There wasn’t anything you could see to take pictures of, just a few rooftops. Our cabin was on top of the ridge of the mountain. To be exact it was 1600 ft + elevation where we were. It totally shocked me as I thought it was going to be in the foothills. I am a city girl, to me that was high.

It was fun to see my family really enjoying themselves. They played pool and air hockey, and Emily and Mike made use of the hot tub. All this time it just kept snowing and snowing! I guess it got up to close to eleven or twelve inches.  LaVella said the plows worked on the lower level roads. I never did see any on top of ole smoky where we were. I think it was the best time I have ever had. Spent with my kids. I am going to leave it at that.  I just won’t go down there in the winter months ever again. Of course I am getting so darn old I don’t think I have to worry about it.  Next time, if there is one, it will be in the city in a Motel within walking distance, or we’ll have Christmas earlier. I have to get to 85 for the next one to come around. My children surprised me with an iPad, which I truly never expected at all. Of course LaVella did one of her videos. I am so grateful for the things that they do for me. I don’t have the words to express my appreciation. Except, THANK YOU!!!

One of the several moments we had, was someone was always getting lost, or someone would lead us out to go eat and they would end up going up the mountain instead of going down. Huh, Mike? They decided it was the GPS! LOL! Mine worked fine. I just didn’t have it working at the time. It was so funny I thought Emily was driving and I kept saying to Jess, “Where is she going”? I would say, “You go down, not up, to get out!”.  I was blaming my little Emily and here it was Mike (her boyfriend).  I don’t think he will ever live that down. I will admit their GPS device was not functioning right, as they were going faster than it could keep up. Sometimes it would loose a signal and you would have to give it a second to come back. All in all, we had a good trip. Let me ask you, “Have you ever had a time on vacation that something didn’t go wrong?”.  Remember there were 18 of us. I am so proud that Jess seemed to really enjoy himself. I think it might have been what he was drinking. LOL!! He is a person that doesn’t like to be in a place closed up for a long time. He must have his space. Thank you, Jess, for coping with your family. We all love you for that. LOL!!

It truly was a good time in the Chalet!

I am going to end this right here as we are all trying to forget a few things that went on as we left the mountain. Hopefully they will erase from my memory bank.

After we got out of the Mountains, some of us had breakfast waiting for the others to get down and then we all headed home.

The final ending to the trip is we all are home safely.

A Message For Jess . . .

When things go wrong Mother’s always try to keep control of their emotions. When her children are home safe and sound, and she is in the solitude of her room, she usually has an emotional breakdown. And no one ever knows. She try’s to keep control at all times. That is what Mothers do.

So I hope you all have a great Healthy New Year.

Love to all,

Mom, Auntie, Cuz, Grandma and Friend

Reflecting On Being Thankful!

Well, here it is November, can you believe another year is almost past? Wow! Time sure does fly.

Now is the time to be thankful for the things you were blessed with, the things you have and the life you were given. Let me tell you, if anyone ever asked me what I am thankful for I would tell them my whole life. When I was a child I can’t ever remember wishing I had a different life. My Mom was my life and then when I had children of my own, they were my life. Sometimes it was a rocky one, but we pulled through. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Well, maybe a few things I would have wished were a little different. But I know one thing, my children were normal and did  things normal children do. I think the teenage stage was the roughest part; when they would try to tell you, you are wrong and don’t know as much as they do. Well, they didn’t actually say that, but you know, the attitude was there. I am sure you all have experienced that stage. Isn’t it amazing how smart they all were at such a young age? LOL!! But thankfully they did grow and mature into nice young adults. With an occasional attitude on their face. LOL!!

My Mom was my mentor and when she was alive there wasn’t ever a time she needed me, or wanted to visit me, that I refused to go,  or take her, wherever it was. The last Christmas of her life I wasn’t going to go to her house.  I was so tired, we had a very busy Christmas rush at work, so I decided I would go the day after. She was so upset that I changed my mind and told her I would be there. Was I glad I went? That was her last Christmas. Which I must say was her favorite holiday.

She taught me the value of family. From the time I was small we would visit our relatives. My Uncle Bob would come down and pick us up and we would go to their farm for the weekend. It was so much fun. Her brother and sisters all had that tight family connection. That is what I always tried to teach my children – Family is important. When no one else is there, family will be. If the need or want is there no matter how important it is to you always make room for the other person. Even if it interferes with your plans. The need the other person has might be a touch more important than yours. Love and Consideration for the other person is what I was always taught. People always say, this is my time or this is my day off I can’t be bothered today. Well, if you let that stand in your way of doing something special for some one it may be the last chance you have to connect to that person. So take the word from a wise old soul, think before you say no.

This Thanksgiving has brought back lot memories. I love to think back on the times I have had with my family. I have no regrets. If I left this earth tomorrow, I will have done the things the Lord wanted me to do. Be it wrong or right in the minds of others. I did what I thought was best for my family and me.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving. Be sure to count your blessings, and by the way record them in picture and video. Also put dates on them. Very important.

Love to all!

The next blog will be after our Christmas in the Smoky Mountains.

A Nautical No-No

September has arrived and what a pleasant beginning to fall. My cousin Bob’s son, Bobby, came in for a family reunion on his Mother’s side of the family.  He called and said he would like to stop by for a visit. Jess, Gary and Angela came over also. After dinner Jess and Bobby went to see the WEBN Fireworks. Jess took him down on his boat. You know I was worried until they walked in the door, but they had a great time.  Bob was impressed with the Fireworks. They were spectacular as they always are. Bobby and I sat up until 2 o’clock in the morning talking.  It was a great visit.

Well, it just doesn’t ever stop. The heat is here again. Of course it will go away. You can count on that. I have been walking every morning and then I come home and walk on the treadmill.  It is the only way I can get the cardio up and moving. But I am good to be on the move again.

I have been reorganizing my brother’s schedules for his hospital visits. Since St Elizabeth took over all the Hospitals in Northern Kentucky we can go right down the hill to get his monthly test done. Much faster to get there and not a lot of traffic. We are both going to really like that.

Tammy got tickets to the Cincinnati Reds game for Oct.2^nd. That is going to be fun.  Hadn’t been watching baseball for a longtime. Use to go to games when I was young and then as I started the family I just didn’t have time for the big leagues. I had my own little leaguers.  My brother would get us to go and take the kids once in a while. Especially the boys as they love it.  I have been following the games and they are really doing great.

We have been having some brush fires around here due to the drought.  We had a sprinkle on the way home yesterday. They say we are 5 inches low for our area. That is a lot.

Just received some photos from Jenni and Keith taken with Gabe. They are so cute. She always sends me little movie clips of Gabes first steps and so on. Really enjoy that.

Brother Dal came over on Saturday.  So he and Sonny went to the bowling alley. . .they  called me and told me to come on down when they discovered there was a friend I grew up with there.  She was one of the crowd that I ran with.  It was really great getting to see her, you could say it had been quite a while. She has had a lot of health problems.  She had her knee operated on had two heart attacks and has spurs on her spine. She has custody of her great grand children and is still working. She is 78 years old. Bless her heart. I guess you do what you have to do.  Going to get with her again soon hopefully. Her Momma would be proud of her.

Well that is about it for now. Hope I will have more to report as time goes on. It is going to be quite busy in the next few months. I’ve been running behind a little  . . .  it is October already!

Love to all!

You know who I am! Have a great Month!

The Dog Days Of Summer

August has come and gone and I will be so glad when we have some cooler weather. It really has been a crazy summer. I don’t have to tell you that. The only sane thing about it was I had a lot of things to do this summer. Usually don’t in the summer months.  That is strange because you’d think I would do more in the summer than the winter. But not true with me, I am busier in the winter. Now that I located a flat area around here I will be doing my walking in the cooler months. As long as I can get off the hill, during bad weather, I will be down there. They really keep our roads and hills by us clear of snow.

Greg and Sarah’s Baby will be born 12/9/2010.  Can you believe Carol is going to be Grandma again?  We are all excited about the baby.

Five great grandbabies. That is a lot for my children since they have been so conservative about having children.  I want to thank my grandkids for giving me a few grgrandkids.  Life without kids must be a boring life. I used to think, what would it be like not to have to get up take care of five kids. Feed them, help dress them, make sure they tie their shoes so they don’t step on the string and fall. Take them out in the yard and watch them play as most of the places we lived they didn’t have fenced in yards.

The boys played baseball so I was always taking them to ball practice and to games. Gary played ball and Jess just couldn’t wait to be able to play. I think he started a year after Gary. He was in the D league I believe. It was so funny. He was so excited; the coach put him in the center field. The player hit a fly ball out to center. Jess ran up there with his hands out to catch the ball and the ball went right between his hands. He didn’t close his hands as the ball came down. He was so upset. But that was so cute. To see him running and stopping and the ball plopped right through his hands.  What an exciting time in my life to do those things with them.  Summers were very busy.

LaVella was in brownies and they kicked her out for some reason, can’t remember. Must not have been too important. Maybe when she reads this she can add the reason.

Greg (Carol’s Son) made two trips back this summer one for a concert. He and Sarah, Marcus came back as her family had a baby shower for her. It was very nice to be able to see his Dad and his family. Don’t get to see them too often. It was also good to see Sarah’s family. Hadn’t seen them since Marcus’s birthday party. She has a very nice family. They sure make you feel welcome. It was so funny, every time they would say Grandma I would start to answer. Then realizing I wasn’t the only Grandma there. It was so funny.

As I said last month I was going to put some things in about the family history. There is so much news on it. I think you all just need to go up and read the information on the web site. There is so much information about the things concerning the history.  I will be adding more as time goes on.

Here’s a link to it: www.myfamily.com/group/barbsfamily

Well, I am getting ready to go bowling today. I sure hope it goes as well today as it did last week. Gee . .  I got a 505 series! The best part of it was I beat my brothers whom have been bowling for years. LOL!!!  I have only had a 500 two times in the twelve years I have been bowling. Not really any good. But it is fun to rub it in their face once in awhile when I do well. LOL!!

Well, that is all for now. So have a great day!

Until next time,

Love to all,

Friend, Mom, Barb, Cousin and Auntie