SPRING HAS SPRUNG IN P.V.!

So sorry to hear about all the snow back home. Sounds like the last big storm of the year there. I hate to rub it in (ha,ha), but our Forsythia, Daffodiles, Pink Bud and many other kinds of flowering trees are in full bloom around here and have been for almost two weeks! Gotta love Arizona in the high desert this time of year. Makes a lazy one's thoughts turn to pulling out the old dried up plants from last year and putting in the new! Especially the ones at the front door greeting Larry's clients. They are probably thinking, "HHhMMmmm, sure are some lazy people that live in this house," or maybe "Guess this guy doesn"t make enough money to hire a gardner his rates must be reasonable or maybe he should raise them." Whatever, there are just so many hours in a day and since I have been taking these heart drugs my body wants to spend the majority of them SLEEPING! I am supposed to get used to them some day and those hours should lessen (the doc maintains.)

The few hours I feel refreshed during the day, I try to spend on learning my routine. I have two weeks left before I have to perform it during pageant rehearsal, so the pressure is on! On April 4th, I have my first costume fitting and rehearsal! How exciting is that? Seems hard to believe the time is drawing near.

Now, the Swiffer story.......Everyday, Swif-her and Larry go on a two mile walk..or should I say Larry goes on the walk and Swif-her normally rides in the pak on his back. Well a week ago, after they had been on their journey for over a half-hour, the phone rang. Seeing it was Larry calling, I panicked knowing for certain something was dreadfully wrong! Upon answering the phone, I learned that Swif-her had jumped out of the back-pak sometime during Larry's walk. He had no idea when it had happened, as he is always so busy listening to his books on CD that he is oblivious to the rest of the world, especially the little six pound dog he is carrying that will bark at everything that moves along the way and that the barking had stopped for the last 1/2 hour! Panicking, I threw a jacket on over my jammies, got in the car to search and found Larry had called me when from about 1000 feet away. Guess he didn't notice Swif-her's absence until he was within a few houses of our house! We needed a plan..needless to say. We decided to check with an elderly couple that always waves to Larry in the very beginning of his walk to see if Swif-her was in the back-pak then. We did just that. "No," the lady called out when questioned. "She wasn't in the back-pak and we wondered why Larry was carrying an empty back-pak on his walk!" Oh my God! That means Swif-her had been roaming free in a strange neighborhood for over 45 minutes! We began stopping at various neighbor's houses along Larry's route asking about Swif-her. No one had seen a little white powder puff dog running loose. While Larry was chatting with one neighbor, I noticed a little white spot running down a road about a block away and quickly drove there to check it out. By the time I arrived, the white spot had vanished. I returned to find Larry wondering down the road, back and forth, walking from one side of the road to the other..unaware that a car was in back of him (me)and closing in fast. Finally, he got in and we proceeded to look for Swif-her. About this time, almost ready to have a panick attack, I began telling myself that the world wouldn't quit spinnng if we never saw her again and that life would go on. Then, I bagan thinking, "Nothing is lost in God. Nothing is lost in God." A few minutes later, while sitting in the car checking with another neighbor, a truck pulled up along side of us and the young man inside said, "Is this what you are looking for?" There was Swif-her trying vigorously to jump out of his arms, through his truck window and through my car window! Words cannot express my emotions. I could hardlybreath and was thinking, "Is this what loosing a child feels like, too?" The young man continued on saying, "First I saw your husband walking aimlisly back and forth on the street, a few blocks down I saw this little white dog running down the road and instantly felt that this is what that man was looking for, so I stopped and picked up this little dog and have been looking for your husband ever since for the past 20 minutes! Oh my goodness..so I surmised that this truck had 1st seen Larry..then picked up Swif-her right after I saw her and before I could get there..the truck went back to find Larry, but I had picked him up and he was no longer wondering aimlessly down the road and then we all spent the next 20 minutes going in circles looking for each other. Whew! I am dizzy after just thinking about all this. Needless to say, Swif-her did not go on any more walks until a couple days ago, after I bought her a harness and now she is securely attached to the back-pak with her harness and long leash. Now, if she jumps out, what are the odds that Larry will notice that she is walking along side of him on the road instead of being in the back-pak? 100 to 1, maybe, before he ends his walk. Either way, Swif-her will hopefully return home safely each time..walking or riding!

That was a long story, but needed telling. Hope you got a few laughs. Easter is tomorrow..had church last nite. It started about 20 minutes late because Father Dan had to go bless a parishioner that had died shortly before. Upon his return he said, "What a great day to die!" Still wondering about opening our service with that! Church tonight..2 1/2 hours long with much of it being outside..having second thoughts about attending this year as it will be cold and we must stand for about an hour out there before entering the church. I am serving communion tomorrow at the 11AM service, so will surely attend that one. Making ham for dinner...no guests for dinner...will miss my family immensly...been thinking about making a visit, but it is very costly and right now we are trying to pull in our straps like most other people, not being certain of what the future holds as far as income goes.

Will close for now..know that you will all be in my thoughts tomorrow and I will be there with you all in spirit..luv to all, yo mama and grammie

P.S. Mailed stamps for the kids today and $'s to help with Kevin's and Brennan's dinner...sorry it is not more timely.

Bored!

Let's see...what's up around here? Well, nothing too good on TV tonight, so thought I'd think of something to update this blog. Next Monday, of course, I will not be saying this with the Bachelor and Dancing With the Stars back on the air!

Went to my dance class this AM..my group is performing Friday for some women's Political party, but I am bringing and serving soup for the soup supper at church that night, so I will not be with them performing. However, I will perform on the 17th. So, we are busy getting ready for that. So many of my dance group are ill. I am trying very hard to stay healthy. We have bad flu all around us here and I am high risk...that is why I am careful wit the hand washing, shoes off in the house, no touching eyes and nose, etc.

Got the taxes off to the accountant last week. Now, we are just waiting for the results. They need to be mailed by the 15th.

Tomorrow I have a most important court trial for one of my CASA babies. Say a prayer all goes well. The permanent placement planning part is about to begin. Hard to let these babies go to people that I feel will not be a nurturing family. All I can do is tell my opinion to the judge and hope it makes a difference and then PRAY! So far, so good. We have had all happy endings up to now, but not without a struggle.

I am considering being on the board of the Mental Health Clinic here that does all the counseling for our foster kids. Maybe, if I get the position, I might be able to make a difference in a small way for them. We'll see.

Wednesday I begin my Cardio Rehab and then I am really gonna hit my routine hard..have about three weeks to get it memorized. Also, depending on whether the rehab makes a difference, I might go to the Arizona Heart Institute for a second opinion.

Well, Larry just came home, so will cut this short for now.

Love to all my babies, big and small....yo mama and grammie

P.S....65 degrees here today and SUNNY!