Robert B. Ivey Jr. passed away Sept. 5, 2011

Here is Mano (Benny) doing his Batman impression.

Here is Mano and Mana (brother y sister)(me)

Mano in his Harry Potter glasses

Mano before he got sick.

Mano having a smoke on porch

granddaughter Son Rob and Mano

Sister Vickie and Mano

Sister Brenda, Mano and brother in law Mikey

Mano and his kids

                                                                  Kim, Rob and Nick

Vickie and Mano

Son Nick and  Mano (Benny dad)

Debbie exwife and Mano. 

Mano rest in peace

We be loving you!!

My Brother's 59th Birthday.

I'd like to introduce you all to my brother, Ben, or Benster as some of the family calls him.  But I call him Mano.  He turned 59 on Aug 11, 2011. 

I had bought him a wifi thingie earlier for his bd so I made him a batman hat to give to him on his real birthday.

He loved it.  He loves batman and spiderman.  I call him Batmano and Spidermano. lol

Mano has termimal throat and lung cancer.  He was diagnosed about 6 months ago and was told he only had a few weeks to live.  He hasn't had one single bit of food in over those months.  He only drinks a soda or boost plus drink and maybe a small beer and tomatoe juice.

Don't know how he's doing it but he is hangin in there.  We text every day a few times a day on the text part of our phones. When we visit he uses his tablet or phone to text talk.

We all love him very much and are happy to see him whenever we can.

Happy 6th Birthday Mia Bella

Here is the birthday girl on her birthday, modeling the gift that Mema and Pa sent to her.  It's a M that holds clippies and hair stuff along with a few headbands and flowers and bows for Mia's pretty hair.
Love you Mia Bella.

Almost Happy 6th Birthday to Mia Bella

Mia had an early birthday party as her real day is July 2 and her mom and dad work on the 4th of July weekend or holiday, always.  So she had a good party with lots of her school friends invited.  The theme was Hello Kitty!  Looks like they all had a great time, with the fairy and all.

My Wedding ring fits again!!!

After a lot of years, around 13, my wedding ring fits again!!!  I am so happy.  It is a black hills gold ring and hubby has a matching one.  His ring is warped due to an accident at work.  He thought he was going to lose his finger as it was caught by the ring in some machine.  He was ok but ring wasn't...

On the weight loss front, I've been holding at 240 for the last week.  Doc says that happens all the time but not to worry.  I will start to lose again real soon.  so I"m not worried at all.

Father's Day

Here is a great Father's Day photo of my lil bro Benny with his kids, Kim, Rob and Nick.  Love this photo.

I'm back and I'm proud!!

this is me in July of 2010

this is me June 2011!!  108 lbs lost in 8 months.

I have just now started to do more things other than sit and watch tv.  I've started back knitting on a hooded sweater for my youngest granddaughter and have started cooking again, at least a couple nites a week.

Birthday photo

Here is my birthday photo, taken Dec, 12.  I turned 61.  I don't feel like 61 but that's ok too.

I've been told that I have to keep the trachea in for quiet a while but am going to the doc on Tuesday to have it change (has to be changed once a month) and will have him tell me why so long.
It is a real pain in the neck. hahahahahahahha  no really it is. :P

I'm back from hospital

Wow, Finally I am here again.  I went in St. Mary's hospital on Oct. 12 for a duodenal switch, which is a weight loss surgery.  Well, something went wrong somewhere, I haven't found out what yet but I will.  I ended up with pneumonia among other things.  Had to have a trachea put in and will have it in until I lose like 150 lbs.  So far I've lost 50 so that is the only plus I can find.
I was in hospital for 6 weeks and was soooo happy to get home finally.  My hubby and granddaughter are taking good care of me so I hope to get a little better each day.  I'm having trouble walking so I have a walker with wheels on it to help me. 

I'd post a recent pic but don't know where my camera is.  So am posting one when I was in intensive care.  Beware it's ugly for sure.
bye for now.  Hugs Patt 

A Jogathon girl

Mia Bella's school held a Jog a thon as a fund raiser.  They held the jog Oct. 1.  Mia Bella ran many laps around the track.  We are sooooo proud of her.  You Rock Mia Bella!!!!!

Mia Bella wrote a note

the other day my daughter kicked her daughter's ball over the fence into the neighbors yard.  The neighbor wasn't home so granddaughter, Mia Bella, asked her Mom if she could write a note and put on neighbors door.  So she did, it's the above photo. 

Isn't that the cutest thing??? Oh and Mia Bella starts kindergarten this year.  Not even in school yet and she can write her own notes!!!  Remarkable.
Oh and she got her ball back too!

Alice in Wonderland

My youngest granddaughter, Mia Bella, had her 5th birthday party.  She had a real fun day.  She told her Mom that it was the best day ever!  Happy 5th Birthday Mia Bella!!

bathroom is done

Here is the finished bathroom.  We all love it.  I think hubby did a fabo job.  He chose everything.  Love it.

bathroom redo

We've been trying to get our bathroom done for 2 weeks now.  Hubby has pulled out the tub and torn down the walls around the tub and then moved toilet over a bit and tore down the linen closet.  Then we had all the water pipes in the place taken out and put in new copper ones.  Now we have the shower pan in place and on Monday will have the marble walls installed.  Then hubby can install the new shower head and all that new stuff.
So yes that means we had no toilet for 3 days and no shower from the first day.  Good thing our park has showers and bathrooms we can use.
Next hubby will paint bathroom and install floor tiles, install new mirror and etage thing and then put door back on .  so one of these days I'll be able to show you an after photo.!!
I've been in bed sick for the last 10 days but am feeling a bit better.

Happy Memorial Day and shed

Keeping all service men and women in our thoughts and thanking them for their service.

So here is our finished shed.  It matches our place now. 

Shed almost done

So the shed is almost finished.  Here it is before tile was laid on the floor or inside painted.
Today they are making shelves and I don't know what all.  They've been out there all morning drilling an sawing and hammering.  Don't know what else they could do to the darn thing. lol

getting a new shed

This is the time of year that my hubby gets the fix it bug.  The last few weeks we've been shopping of items to use to redo our bathroom.  We have put that on hold until the last few items get shipped to us.  So in the meantime hubby and a few homies are tearing down our metal shed and building a wood one.
Here are photos of the tear down and later I'll post pics of the build.

Chemo Caps for kids

If you would like to donate a few hats to charity, here is the link for you:

http://www.patternworks.com/caps.aspx

Patternworks needs our help to collect 1,000 chemo caps to send to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Dana_Farber Cancer Institure, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  And for every cap they receive they will donate a portion of the yarn sales to the American Cancer Society.

As some of you know, we lost my oldest grandson, Dennis, to leukemia in Jan 2004.  He was only 13 and he was so brave thru it all.  At the time I crocheted him a hat and he wore it in hospital.  So now I'm hoping to send a few caps to Patternworks to help them reach their goal of 1,000.

Dennis Gonzales

we love you

I hope you all can do the same .  It feels really good to donate.

A little something for a new baby

My girls half sister just had her (5th) baby so I made a little hat and booties for  him.  going to make a pair of mitts for him as well.

2nd pair of socks

The photo says it all.  Just now finished this second pair of socks and they are for me.  I'm wearing the first pair of socks I made.  They are so comfortable.  as you can see in the photo, I have all the things I need.  Yarn and books and Starbucks coffee and behind me is my tv and in front of me is my desk and computer.
All the things I need to entertain myself and keep busy.
I've already cooked dinner and it is waiting to be eaten.  Chicken Adobo and steamed white rice.  yummmm