The Goofy Family Web Page

The Goofy Family has been busy the past few months. Can't believe it is September.

I've been going to the dr's quite a bit for my diabetes and also for my hand. Had ALOT of blood work done at the Rheumatologists office. Almost passed out pretty bad. Thank God Ed was with me. He took care of me...along with all the nurses and the dr who rushed to see  me!!

Brandon has been doing great with going back to school. No complaints about going or trying to stay home. He even went when he had strep throat (well, after he was on antibiotics for over 24 hrs).

Mom is doing good, going to Dialysis every Tues, Wed and Saturday. She got her port out of her neck; they are using her arm now.

Ed has been working hard. He is ranked #4 out of 71 at his work. I'm so proud of him! He's been so good taking care of me when I'm not feeling good, too!

So, not too much new going on. I went to the dr's yesterday, had some blood work, and she gave me a  higher dose of Byetta. Got a call today that my blood sugars are WAAAY too high, and to try what I"m doing now for 2-3 weeks, and then come in. If it's no better with the higher dose, then I will go on "real insulin". I'm kinda bummed about it, but I guess I knew it was coming.

Ed and I are really excited about the fact that we have decided we want to try for a baby!!! Once my blood sugars are stable, we are going to get to work! There is so much to read and learn about just trying to get pregnant! I never knew!! We are hoping to try to get pregnant around Dec/Jan/Feb!!

I'm still going to occupational hand therapy. One more visit and them it's time to see the dr again to see what he thinks is going on.

Brandon is having fun at Amanda and Michaels house today, planning on staying for a couple of nights. Ed and I had a great weekend.  We finally got a new bed spread...it has taken me over TWO years to find one that I liked! haha

We watched Nights in Rodanthe this weekend....OMG! I do NOT reccommend this movie to anyone who has lost a loved one anytime soon. Way too sad. I know I read this book years ago, but I forgot what it was about!!

Today is one year since my dad passed away. We all miss him so much.

I miss my dad's smile, his hearty laughter, and the way he was always able to calm me down no matter what was going on. He loved me unconditionally, no matter what I put him through during my teenage years. He accepted Brandon, and loved his "Pal" with all his heart.

The world is a sad place with out him, but Heaven is a happier place with him.

I LOVE YOU DAD!!

Mom got a call from Vanderbilt, Tennessee today. She has an appointment on 7/31 to go for an evaluation to be put on the Kidney Transplant list.

Mom and I will go up the night before after her dialysis, so we'll be there bright and early for her appointment time. Then we'll drive home afterwards. I've already called today and made the reservation, and luckily they have a Hospital discount there!!

Brandon, Ed and Belle will have to fend for themselves for a day and a half They can do it!!

We have decided to keep all of our updates here on the Goofy Family blog! Any trip reports, pictures and other things posted on our other sites, will be linked here as well!

We had a great 4th of July. Ed, Mom and I went to the local city firework show. It was nice show and nice to get out for the evening. On Saturday, Ed and I cooked out on the grill!! Hot dogs and cheeseburgers. We had a few different side dishes, and Ed made some yummy Slushies/Icees. Very good on a hot day!

Mom had surgery last month on her arm, to try to get her fistula in her arm working for Dialysis. (she has been having dialysis since April). She's doing better now and driving herself to dialysis again now. I've started occupational therapy for both my wrists. Will go to a rheumatologis in September.

Brandon is having a great summer so far. Typical teenager, staying up late and sleeping in! He also has been having fun at is aunt and uncles house.

Well, once again I am behind in posting here. So much has been going on that I"m just going to try to start fresh. We have a couple of months until our cruise!!!

Sadly, Dad lost his battle with cancer this day. One year to the date that we moved here. It was, and still if, very hard on our family. We miss him so much. I am So thankful that we had that extra time with him, it really meant alot to us.

Dad was admitted to the hospital today. He has been feeling pretty bad the past 2 weeks. He hasn't received Chemo in over a month. We're still working on getting his Insurance/COBRA set up/fixed. Dad hasn't been able to eat much or hold down food. He is having other issues as well. They think he may have a blood clot.

As you can see...I am posting alot of things today in the hopes of finally getting caught up to the current month!! I am really trying not to post too many pictures....believe me there are SO many that I didn't post.

We've had so many things going on this past year and I"m hoping to post the biggest things to share (and to help us remember).

I hope to have this blog up to the present by the end of this month!!

We have been asked this question quite a bit with in the last year. Do we like Alabama? Yep! We do! It is so beautiful here where we live! The mountain views are amazing as we are out driving. Seeing deer and rabbits and other wild life is pretty cool. And of course all the horses we see on our way in and out of our area.

It has taken some time to get used to how FAR everything is. To get to the nearest store, gas station or food place it is about 8 miles. (15 minutes with the winding roads). SOOOO different than in FL where everything was right around the block. So now, especially with the gas crisis...we try to do all our running around at one time. We make many stops at once but then we are done for the week!! (except running to the post office for our ebay packages that we send out).

We experience the seasons here!! I LOVED Fall!!! The leaves changing colors..seeing all the fall decorations. We went to the fall festival at a local school. There seems to be so much to do in the area around the fall and the holidays.

Don't get me wrong...I REALLY REALLY miss being so close to Walt Disney World (less than 90 minutes) and so close to the beach (about 15 minutes). It seems so strange to not have been to WDW since January and that was just a quick day trip. I miss John's Pass and our "beach pizza".

I don't regret the decision to move here to AL to be close to mom and dad and help them out. We really do enjoy the area and the house.

So, yeah! We like Alabama!!!

Christmas Day was very busy!! We (ed and I) put the turkey in to cook. Mom was pretty sick today. Grandma Faye was visiting and she helped out with the cooking

Brandon Ed and I opened presents from his mom in the morning.

Then we went downstairs and Brandon opened his presents!

Amanda and Michale came over and we ate a late lunch and opened up presents to and from everyone! That took a long time!! Everyone was happy to get what they did, it was fun to look around the living room at everyone having such a great time!

Grandma Faye

Amanda and Michael

Me and Mom

Dad

We really enjoyed our community during the holiday season!! We went to the Ciy Parade and found a wonderful spot to view the parade in front of Ciy Hall.

Here are a few pictures from the parade:

We had so much fun...we really enjoyed the parade our city put on. Most of the floats threw out candy for the kids (and adults).

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

We also went back to the trains! This time it was the Polar Express. Kids (big and small) could wear their PJ's and ride on the train to the North Pole! On the ride over they read The Polar Express book (and of course you could buy one to follow along...and we did!) They also handed out gift bags and the Bells from the story. Once the story was over we were at the North Pole. This is when the elves came aboard to hand out stuff and tell us santa was on his way. Then Mr and Mrs Claus came to visit every girl and boy!!! After they left the elves handed out chocolate milk and cookies for the ride back home.

Ed and Heather on the Train/Polar Express:

Brandon with his book and glow stick:

Mrs. Claus signed all the books!

You are never too old to talk to Santa!

This was such a great night!!! It was COLD COLD COLD but we still had a great time!! I have really enjoyed all the things Ed Brandon and I have done around the area....it is fun to get out as a family and do these things. Yes, Brandon was 12 years old this Christmas and he still enjoyed this all. I LOVE that! I love our little family!!!

We really wanted to make this Christmas special for dad and the family. We felt really blessed that dad was feeling a bit better and was home to celebrate. There was alot going on during this time...we went to our city Christmas parade, saw santa on a fire truck in our neighborhood and decorated the inside and outside of our house.

Mom, Brandon and Grandma outside to see Santa:

Here is our tree that we put upstairs:

Decorations downstairs:

Christmas Tree and Disney Monorail:

As I said earlier...Dad was in the hospital over Thanksgiving. I went ahead and cooked up everything we had bought for the dinner. I should admit here that I had to have help cooking the turkey. Ed opened it up and cleaned it out. I just couldn't do that. It was a pretty good turkey when it was done! Yummy!! We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while things were cooking!

Heather showing off the kitchin and the cookin'

Ed Cutting the Turkey

Some of the food..

Thanksgiving Table...

It was pretty sad for us that dad was in the hospital for Thanksgiving. We ended up having a nice dinner with Amanda and Michael and I enjoyed that time. I'm glad we went to spend time with mom and dad also, and brought them some yummy dinner.