On a happier note....

My friend Beverly keeps calling me and telling me it's time for a happier picture! Well here it is. This is Tim six years after the last post in all of his healthy glory. I was telling Beverly that I have to buy him men's medium shirts now! He's just growing too much! This was taken today. That's Mackenzie next to him. Britt and family came over for Easter.

I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately. I have been so busy. Besides school, home, motherhood...grandmotherhood etc., I'm also taking a graduate course and I just can't seem to find the time for everything!

I do have vacation next week so that ought to give me a chance to catch up. I also only have 44 days left of school. Can you see my big old smile!

Don't forget me! I'll be back soon.

take care,
Dawn

Six years ago, this was my boy!

I am reposting this. It has been six years this month that this happened.


I remember so well. We were having a turkey dinner that Sunday night and I was running late so I gave Timmy his bath early. He complained about his neck hurting. During dinner he complained of his neck hurting. He went to bed complaining (and crying) about his neck hurting. He woke up at 10:00 complaining and crying that his neck was hurting. I called the Dr. who sent us to the ER. That night they sent us home with a prescription for a stiff neck. The next day he was still crying about his neck hurting. He had a fever and couldn't stop crying. We went back to the ER and 7 hours later (and many tests later) he was in an ambulance heading to Boston to Children's hospital. Rich and I joined him in Boston. We spent 8 long days in ICU with him. There were some very scary moments. I remember the most frightening day of my life was when Rich and I were taken into a small room with the doctors who told us that there was the possibility that Timmy could die. He was very sick. They had so many teams of doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with him. I stayed by his side in the ICU each day and night. I remember the day there were about 10 doctors over him trying everything they knew how to do to help. His blood pressure had dropped so low! The poor boy was on massive antibiotics and morphine. They finally decided that he had a retropharyngeal abscess with Mediastinitis.


After about six days he stared improving and they decided he didn't need to be as sedated as he was. I remember when they "woke" him up he turned to me with tears in his eyes and mouthed the word "momma" to me. I still get so emotional thinking of that. When he was taken out of the ICU the poor boy started going through morphine withdrawal. He was released from the hospital and sent home with IV antibiotics.

About a week after we got home he started getting very sick again so we went back to Children's Hospital and after several days they discovered that he had allergies to the antibiotics that he was on.

It was the most heart wrenching time of my life!! I know that all my friends and family (even people I didn't know) who were praying for Timmy played such an important part of his recovery.



It's been three years and he is such a healthy boy now and quite the funny boy at that. Today we were driving to school and I told him that he was handsome. A minute later he said, "so I got all the looks" and Brittainy got everything else!".

I can't imagine my life without him. He fills my heart with such joy!!


take care,
Dawn

My week in review

Hello there! It's been another one of those weeks for me. Last Saturday I went to Britt's house to surprise her when she returned from her vacation by cleaning her house. She left the day after Jack's party and I went to tidy up for her so she wouldn't have to do it when she got home. I also made her a pot of spaghetti sauce and meatballs. ☺ Later that day Britt called to tell me that her flight home was Saturday morning not Sunday. They missed their flight and wouldn't be flying home until Tuesday. Brittainy is the epitome of Murphy's Law!

Tuesday I had to take Tim to the dentist, pick up my mother and get home to have a corn beef and cabbage dinner with Britt, Jay, the kids also joining us. They came right from the airport to my house.

Rich FINALLY went to the doctor's on Tuesday and he told me that he has bronchial pneumonia. I called the doctor back on Thursday to tell them that Tim wasn't getting better and I brought him back in on Friday and he has bronchitis.

Oh, and I had report cards to write this week that went home on Friday. I don't know where I found the time to get everything done.

I did treat myself yesterday. Twilight was released on DVD and I bought it and watched it.

To top off my week, a piece of my front tooth fell off yesterday. I just happened to rub my tounge across it and it broke. I wasn't even eating anything!

I still have an assignment for the class I am taking due tonight by midnight (online) that I am not done with yet. Then I get to start all over again next week with a new assignment.

If you have read this far thanks! I've missed my blogging friends this week. I think we all need to make a coffee (or tea) date and get together and just talk! :)

take care,
Dawn

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

Deborah of Pictures Pots and Pens is hosting Friday's Favorite Family Fotos. Please stop by her blog to see who else is posting and be sure to visit them as well.

The pictures I am sharing today are of Tim and Mackenzie. They were taken about 3 years ago. Brittainy worked on weekends back then and I would watch Mackenzie on Saturdays. This weekend I pulled out one of Tim's old pop up play tents and he and Mackenzie played in it for quite some time.

They are close enough in age to be brother and sister but Tim is Mackenzie's uncle...and he's only 7 years older than her. :)

Please be sure to visit Deborah's blog for more Friday's Favorite Family Fotos.

take care,
Dawn

A different Grandma!

My daughter Brittainy, her husband and two kids are visiting family in Florida. Oh, I miss them. They will have been gone two weeks this weekend, but thankfully will be home on Sunday.

Britt called me the other day to tell me that she was having a great time and shared some stories. She told me that on the plane ride to Florida Mackenzie was a bit confused about going to see Grandma and Papa (her grandparents she's never met) because she also calls me and Rich Grandma and Papa. Britt told me that both children received some gifts when they got there and one day Mackenzie had a toy Britt hadn't seen before. She asked Mackenzie where she got it and Mackenzie told her a different Grandma gave it to her. Britt found out that a neighbor of her in-laws gave it to Mackenzie. Then she proceeded to tell me (prefaced by, "don't be offended") but Mackenzie thinks all old ladies that give her presents are called Grandma!!!!

AH, out of the mouths of babes!

take care,
Dawn

Wallace and Grommet

While Tim was home sick this week he had all of his modeling clay out and made this one day after he's watched Wallace and Grommet on TV. For those of you who aren't familiar they are a clay animation story.

A couple of people have suggested getting sculpy for Tim, but he likes to use the clay over and over again. I told him that we would start taking pictures of what he makes so he can remember it.

Last year for his birthday he got a handful of dinosaur skeletons from the bowling alley we went to. He likes to use the clay and "re-create" the dinosaurs. The boy sits for HOURS using clay.

I'm proud of my boy and just wanted to share.

take care,
Dawn

The sickness is in full force!

What is it about a man that is sick??? Rich has been moaning and groaning for days now because he's not feeling well. I finally broke down last night and told him that whatever he is doing to make himself feel better isn't working. He needs to call the doctor! He acts like he is the only man that has ever been sick and nothing I have gone through can compare!

Tim is also sick but his moaning and groaning is minimal. He's been home for two days now and I stayed home from school to stay with Tim so Rich could go to the doctors.

I want to strip the beds and air my house out!!! I can't wait for both of them to feel better.

Tell me that I am not the only one that has to suffer when their DH is sick! ☺

take care,
Dawn

I'm back

Sorry to have been MIA the past week. It has been a week of ups and downs.

A week ago Saturday (Feb 28th) my grandson celebrated his first birthday. Britt had a party for him and he was such a good boy. He has such a happy spirit about him.

Here is a picture of Jack with the hedgehog I gave him.


During the party my sister Sam called to say that my step brother had passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of January and lost his battle last week. On Saturday his service was held. Butch was only 8 months older than me and it is the saddest thing to have a life lost at such a young age. When I was about 8 years old my father remarried and he married a woman that had six children...five girls and a boy. Then they had another child, my sister Sam. Before Sam was born my sister Cindy and I lived with my father for a couple of months. Poor Butch was surrounded by 8 sisters!!!

I hope to be able to stay caught up this week with my blogging!

take care,
Dawn

Happy Birthday to my grandson Jack!!

Today is Jack's birthday (sort of!) He was born on February 29th last year and is celebrating his first birthday today. The picture above was taken the day that he was born. The picture below I took from Brittainy's facebook page. It was taken recently. He is so CUTE!!! I just love that little boy.


He is a true LEAP DAY baby. Lots of people get confused and say Leap year baby, but don't realize that every baby born in a leap year is a leap year baby. Only those born on the 29th of February are a leap day baby! Because he was born on Leap Day I have decided to get him something frog related for his birthday every year. This year I bought him a stuffed frog.

I also made this little hedgehog for him. I knitted and felted it last week and stuffed it on Thursday. Isn't he the cutest little thing!

Thanks for stopping by today.

take care,
Dawn

Friday's Favorite Family Fotos

Deborah of Pictures Pots and Pens is hosting Friday's Favorite Family Fotos. Please stop by her blog to see who else is posting and be sure to visit them as well.



It's the end of a long week for me and I just didn't have the time I thought I would to search for a perfect photo so I am sharing this picture of Tim from five years ago. I think I am feeling nostalgic missing my little boy! He's growing up so fast. He's such a ham in this picture. He certainly gets his outgoing personality from his mother!!!

For more posts, please be sure to visit Deborah's blog.

take care,
Dawn

The reigning QUEEN!

I play a game called pathwords on facebook. You need to spell words with connecting tiles. I am addicted to playing this game. The longest word I have found is sugarcoat. A couple of my friends at school play this game and some of my blogging friends have played as well. This is what the board look like. After you spell a word the tiles disappear and new tiles are added to the top.

My friend Ingrid has the most points of the friends I play with. She's at 1300. Just recently I scored enough points (1200) to surpass a friend at work. She sent this crown to me via a couple of students to crown me the queen! LOL! I wear my crown proudly.

The only place I have found this game is on Facebook. If you belong, give it a try. :)

EDITED to add: In the day and a half since I wrote this I am now in FOURTH place and had to pass the crown on LOL!

I'm sorry I didn't get to visit any of you yesterday. I was gone from 6:15 in the morning until 9:15 last night and I was too tired when I got home. :(

take care,
Dawn

More Neck Warmers

Well with winter coming to an end (I hope!) I finally got around to adding the buttons to the neck warmer that I made for myself. I love this color...(though the picture doesn't do it justice). I made it to match the mittens I made for myself. Just a few days ago I reached into my coat pocket and took out my mitten to find that a pen had leaked in my pocket and the thumb has ink on it. I know, it's my own fault for leaving the pen in my pocket. Luckily, I have some yarn left over and I'll just rip the thumb out and knit it over again.

At Christmas time I made a blue neck warmer for my friend Ingrid. She liked it so much that she said she wished she had a black one too. Well flattery will get you everywhere so I made a black neck warmer for her.

OK, I love flattery, so when my friend Wendy said how much she would like one I made one for her as well. Wendy still needs to pick the buttons she wants and hers will be done.


take care,

Dawn

2nd Time Around Tuesday...Nana's Necklace

My friend Diane at A Picture is Worth A 1,000 Words is hosting a 2nd Time Around Tuesday.

Today I am sharing a necklace that my grandmother gave me before she died. It is a heart shaped locket and when I was photographing it I noticed how very dirty it is. I need to go out and get some jewelry cleaner.

She told me who gave this to her, but for the life of me I can't remember. Old age is setting in I guess.

When you open it up there are two pictures inside. The one of the left is a picture of my father as a boy. The picture on the right is my grandfather (my father's step father). I've always thought it was kind of neat that my grandfather's name was Samuel Donald (he went by Don) and my name is Dawn and I have a younger sister named Sam!

I love this necklace because it was given to me by my grandmother and the two pictures inside were the most important people in her life!

Please be sure to visit Diane and see more 2nd Time Around Treasures.

take care,
Dawn

Blue Monday ~ Mr. Bear

Sally at Smiling Sally hosts a Blue Monday event. I'm feeling a bit BLUE today since my vacation week is over and I am heading back to school.

Speaking of school, my blue today is Mr. Bear. I have been sharing Mr. Bear with my kindergarten classes for about 18 years now. Every year I buy a new bear and in the last several years I have also bought Mr. Spare Bear. Without fail someone forgets to bring him back to school, so we now have a spare!

Mr. Bear is a very special member of our class! Every night Mr. Bear goes home with a different child. During our morning meeting we have a chance to read Mr. Bear's journal. We learn a lot about each child and his/her family from reading the journal. Mr. Bear is always on an adventure. He travels all around the Cape, goes to many after school activities and meets lots of other stuffed animals at the homes he visits. Mr. Bear also has many opportunities to come home with me for a bath!!!

take care,
Dawn

Some may think he is sucking up for that dog!

Thursday night Tim was in our room watching TV. I was working at the computer. He came to ask me to take a look at our room. He decided that he would organize shelves and closets for us.

Later that night he wrote this note to Rich and I and shared it with tears in his eyes. He is my very sensitive child!

In case you can't read it, here's what it says:

Dear,

Mother (mom) and father (Dad)

Thank you for bringing me into this world. I will return the favor by cleaning, making beds, setting the table, organizing and loving you. My ten years of life have been lovely.

Thank you so much.

Your son,

Timothy Allen

Rich read the note and said it must be true what they say about married people. After a while they start to look alike ☺

How can I turn that boy down!!! He's melting my heart!

take care,
Dawn

Pink Saturday....Baby Love

It is PINK SATURDAY. My friend Beverly of How Sweet The Sound is hosting a PINK SATURDAY . She is probably falling over in her chair because it's been about six months since I've done a pink Saturday. Check out her blog and visit all the PINK posts today.

In just about two weeks my daughter's friend Helen is having a baby. This is Helen's second child. She has an 8½ year old son. Brittainy and Helen have been friends since kindergarten when we lived across the street from them. Helen has hosted both of Britt's baby showers and two weeks ago Britt had a shower for Helen. I made this little sweater and hat for the baby. It is a soft pink with speckles of color. The picture is a bit washed out...sorry about that. There are lots of pregnant teachers at my school. One of the teacher's had her baby a bit early. I bought enough yarn to make the same sweater and hat for her baby.

For more pink posts be sure to visit Beverly.

take care,
Dawn

Friday's Favorite Family Foto-Chocolate Heaven

Deborah of Pictures Pots and Pens is hosting Friday's Favorite Family Fotos. Please stop by her blog to see who else is posting and be sure to visit them as well.

This picture was taken about 5 years ago. It was the day before my birthday and Timmy wanted to make a birthday cake for me. I got out all of the ingredients and Tim did the hard work. You can see by this picture that not all of the cake mix made it into the pan to cook. I have to say it was a very good cake. One of my favorites as well, chocolate cake with vanilla frosting! He was so proud of himself and I was tickled that he wanted to make me a cake.

For more favorite photos please visit Deborah's blog.

take care,
Dawn

What did you say Lassie....Timmy's where?

Actually Timmy is dreaming, wishing and hoping for a dog. I haven't had a dog in over thirty years since I was younger. The only pet he's ever had are beta fish. He's 10 ½ now and can't stop thinking about it. He's been watching the shows on Animal planet researching the kind of dog we should get (IF WE GET ONE!). He's been on line looking for the best dog for us.

He's even started a journal writing about his wishes. Two days ago he wrote on his on blog about wanting a dog. He's considering a beagle. I told him IF we were to get one we would have to wait until the summer because we will be home then and it wouldn't be fair to bring a puppy into the house when we would both be at school all day.

Do any of you dog lovers have any pointers for this poor conflicted mother?

take care,
Dawn

OH NO!!!

I accidently posted this last night by mistake. OOOPS!

Do you remember my post in December about this sewing machine dear hubby got me for Christmas?



About a week and a half ago my daughter came over with something she wanted me to sew. While I was sewing the needle broke, the fabric got caught and the bobbin popped out. I couldn't get it to work again. I called JoAnn Fabrics yesterday and they are going to replace it for me today. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and then I'll bring it in for a trade. I am so excited that they are going to do that!!! Keep your fingers crossed that this one lasts much longer :)

I have some sewing that I would like to do and want a machine that will work.

take care,
Dawn

2nd Time Around Tuesday

My friend Diane at A Picture is Worth A 1,000 Words is hosting a 2nd Time Around Tuesday.

For Christmas this year I bought my daughter a Kitchen Aid mixer. Before Christmas night was even over she told me that she had made some bread and cookies. She loves it and can't say enough about it. I thought about getting one for myself but after all the money I spent at Christmas I just couldn't justify buying one for myself. I did have a friend offer me her mixer and I enjoyed using that and was thankful for her kindness.

One day a school a couple of weeks ago Britt called me to tell me that she saw the same mixer I had bought for her on Craig's List for $100. I called and ended up buying it. It was brand new and still in the unopened box. The woman I bought it from lived on a road I pass every day to and from school. She said that she had bought it for $399 and ended up not having a place to put it.

Right now it is sitting on my counter. I have used it to make mashed potatoes, beat some eggs and that's about it. Tomorrow I am hoping to make some peanut butter blossom cookies (or boob cookies as my friend Jeanne likes to call them!) and I hope to use it again then.
Britt and I both have talked about getting the ice cream maker attachment for it. I've never bought any thing off of Craig's List before. I am certainly glad I didn't let this offer pass me by.

Please be sure to visit Diane for more 2nd Time Around Tuesday posts.

take care,
Dawn