Getting older just suxs!

Last week I had a scare with my blood pressure which has never, ever been high but Friday morning it shot up to 189/128 which scared the crud out of me and everyone at work around me. Someone drove me home because I was much too lightheaded to drive myself then I spent the entire weekend just lying on the sofa. My pressure stayed up but not that high so I made a dr's appointment as soon as they opened. The dr ran an ekg which showed no heart attack or damage (wahoo) but he wanted me to see a cardiologist so he made me an appointment for that same afternoon. That was a little troubling to me that I need to be seen right away by the cardiologist but hey wasn't gonna turn it down. So now we're waiting to schedule some more tests to see if we can get to the bottom of it. My pressure is back into a normal range but it occasionally shoots up, I have back pain, lightheadedness and just generally don't feel "right". I can't explain it other than something doesn't feel right which I'm sure is a huge help to the dr in getting this puzzle solved. Anyhoo, just gonna let the dr do his job and quit trying to play doctor. Mark will be so disappointed, LOL!

My folks are coming to see me in a week and I can't wait. I need a Momma hug and some Daddy love right now! Mark's going back out of the country for a couple of weeks so they will drive in to stay a couple of days with me. It's not they are avoiding him it just makes more sense when I can spend one on one time with them and we can act like the weird family that we are without Mark having to see it all. We put the Fun in dysfunctional and not everyone gets that. We had hoped that Rachel and Josi could come with them but cheerleading camp will keep both of them busy so maybe next year. They are just growing up too fast...Rachel will be sweet sixteen in September and Josi just turned 13. I truly do wonder where the time as gone. Rachel's first sentences were "U happy Pappa? Me happy"..She accomplished something I never thought possible; she taught me that I had enough room/love in my life for her and Zared. You see, Zared was my special little guy and he loved spending time with me almost as much as I loved spending time with him so I worried that his little sister wouldn't feel as special to me. But Rachel's bright eyes and smile won me over immediately and I couldn't wait to spoil her rotten just like I did Z. She wasn't a cuddly little baby and gosh, that girl had a set of lungs on her but she still had me wrapped around her little finger. As she got older, her BIG personality just shined thru and I loved spending more and more time with her. Then Kelton was born and what a lover he was. He liked to be cuddled, he smiled all the time, had the cutest little pot belly and man, oh man, he loved his cousin Rachel. They are only 10 months apart so they were best buddies and gonna get married! I started having Auntie Days with Zared when he was probably just a few weeks old so now I had 3 kids on our days and things were somewhat more challenging but equally just as rewarding. We'd go to Chuckie Cheese, Toys R Us, parks, bookstores, movies, ect with the kids always making the decisions about what we did and where we ate....of course, in the early days Z could talk the younger ones into doing whatever he really wanted to do just like he could me! Then Josi came along and she brought even more joy into our lives. She had the sweetest, most loving personality and she was just happy all the time. She had all of us wrapped around her fingers....well, maybe not all of us because her big brother wasn't entirely thrilled she was there at first. She quickly grew up and I do mean quickly because anything Rachel and Kelton did then by gosh, she did! This child was fearless! We started called Rachel, Kelton and Josi the "little kids" because they were all so close in age but nothing these 3 ever did was little! I moved out of state on Rachel's 5th birthday so I've missed so much now of everyday watching them grow up but the time I do spend with them is quality time. I think they all know how much Aunt Donna loves them but they won't ever fully understand the joy they have brought to me in my life until they have kids of their own. I'm a proud aunt as I'm sure you can't tell from this post. I love every one of them in a way that I never thought possible and the joy they bring me has enriched my life immensely.

Ok, enough sappy tearjerker memories because it's Saturday here in Hotlanta and its raining. Yea! We need it so bad because I got a $145 water bill yesterday....sure wish I was kidding about that but no such luck. I'm resetting that sprinkler system tonight no matter what Mark has to say. That's too much watering and it's cutting into be estate sale budget....LOL! I'm heading over to a couple of promising looking sales today while Mark works. He's trying to finish his presentations today so tomorrow we can play. Have a great weekend everyone!

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get!

Anyone else ever feel this way?  I swear it was just January last week and now the calendar is telling me it's freakin July!  Well all I have to do is step outside my door to know it's July in Atlanta also known as Hotlanta.  It's 99 in the shade and yes I meant the Bon Jovi pun for those who know me too well. 

Vacation was amazing and we had such a great time.  It was nice to just relax, lounge around and explore every square inch of Boppard, Reims and Paris.  I did send us off on a wild goose chase looking for a needlework store that Alma from Blackbird Designs mentioned on her blog about her trip a couple of years ago.  I wish I was kidding when I say that we walked 7 1/2 miles in one afternoon and never found it.  We were armed with the iphone map and it kept telling us it was just around the corner but as soon as we made the turn it would send us off another way.  Mark kept his spirits up just making fun of me huffing and puffing but determined to find it.  After a couple of stops for lunch, dinner and lots of wine, I finally admitted defeat so we headed back to the hotel and I was content to stitch away the freebie design that I downloaded from Alma's blog as a tribute to the trip.  As we were walking back to the Arc de Trimphe which was right beside our hotel, Mark said "Hey I hear a band playing at the Arc" and this will tell you who tired I was because I replied "It could be Bon Freakin Jovi and I wouldn't stop right now".  Still a once in a lifetime trip and it really makes you appreciate home when you get back!

I did actually make it to the Paris flea market and was so disappointed. I made sure to get exact directions so I didn't go to the swap meets thinking it was the Fleas as the French call it. I think before the world of internet shopping the fleas was the biggest thing ever but now I could find everything I could possibly want online so I was disappointed. Not as much as Mark who had made arrangements to have stuff shipped home and changed subway trains 7 times with me just to get there. But I can now say be there, done that and mark it off my bucket list. Now that's not to say that I came home empty handed....don't despair my friends I still brought home treasures just treasures that I could carry on or pack into Mark's suitcase.  There was a great antique street fair close to the hotel so I spent more time there than anywhere else.  I managed to score the stool and 2 pewter porringers from a guy for about $60, the two coffee grinders were $40 for both and the yellowware bowl, chopping board and wooden mallet were quite a bit more I'm afraid.  But all of it fit in my suitcases along with a few other small things I bought like 3 pillows and a huge slate cheese platter.  Mark was about to kill me after lugging all that "old wood" as he likes to refer to it all thru bus trip to airport, thru Paris airport, thru Atlanta airport and finally the marta trip home.  I was afraid he would throw them off the train tracks when he realized that the elevator was broken so we had to carry the bags down the stairs.  What a guy!  Now I just need some time to play with my newest treasures and get them displayed properly in the house.  I promise more pics after all the fluffing is done.