November 15, 2009
Slim, Matt, Nick and I all to to Orlando Dodge all mopar carshow yesterday and we entered all three cars. I pretty much knew mine wouldn't do anything (stock haters) but thought Slim might get at least a mention. Nicks got looked over quite a bit!! People just thought mine was a leftover 97 for sale. Oh well.

Well, I have really fallen behind in blogging on this thing, huh? Don't think it matters much since no one reads it. But any way...the year hasn't been that great for the family. I finally got to go to Michigan to see Slim's family home and meet relatives I hadn't met yet. Me, Nick and Matt flew up. THAT was a disaster all on it's own, but as we finally got there Mom was being taken to the hospital. This was back in August. So everyone was going back and forth to the hospital. We actually had gone up for the annual car show (pictures on album here) and we did go to it but were worried about mom all day. She ended up having surgery for an aneurism.

So here we are now and it is almost Christmas again. Mom still is in the hospital..a rehab sort of place. Dad goes every day and takes care of her. Rick and Penny are trying to help dad as much as they can. Cheryl is helping dad as well. Slim calls and talks to dad every day. It is really hard. Especially when I think about last year and our time with them. Just reminds me that we have to be grateful for every minute with the people we love.

We traveled for Thanksgiving as well. Slim drove me up to Forsyth GA to visit my Grandma. I hadn't been back home in 9 years. It was good to go home. Good to see my Grandmother. She is 94 and still living at home. She has Parkinsons and shakes bad, has had it almost as long as I can remember though. Her mind is sharp as a tack though. It was neat going over our family history with her. Here is some of what I relearned.

Her grandfather was Samuel Hodge, ferryman at Dames Landing. Cousin to the Jarrell's of Jarrell Plantation. My great great grandfathers house still stands and in fact my cousins still live in it today. Her mother was Osceola (Ossie) and she had a sister named Sarah. Sarah is (i think if i got it right) Dooly's mother (my cousin who still lives in the house). Dooley Allen is married to Carlene who is also a midwife. She works over in Macon area and came to visit me this last year and is thinking about opening a birth center herself. Can't believe I can't remember more, but a lot is going on right now and I might be a bit stressed.

Anyway, Uncle Billy is living at grandmother's house and taking care of her and really wants out of there. Not that he doesn't want to take care of her, he just wants a good cup of coffee!

Well, more later!

Mom and dad are back...have been for about a week. Dad and a friend (Harpo) have ripped out our bathroom and are replacing the tub, sink, and floor. Thanks guys! This is keeping dad busy and here!! I think Mom has him convinced to stay at least another month to get this project done as well as stay for Vicki's Sweet 16 birthday party 03/09/09. Wanna come?

Update:

Mom and dad are heading back this way on Tuesday and will stay a few more days here.

Slim is working hard on his car and doesn't have much more until it is ready to actually turn the key (although still has a lot of cosmetic stuff to be done).

Slim and I looked at the new Challenger...we debated trading my Charger Super Bee in for one, but discovered that we would actually loose about 15k doing so...they won't give me what the car is actually worth, and I might still have considered it (because I REALLY want the Challenger) but they won't give us the 0% interest rate. We decided to reevaluate in 2 years and then we can think about whether we want to buy a used Challenger or buy a real '71 and retro fit it with all the new SRT insides (including the drivetrain). We'll see...

More later.

Well, mom and Dad pulled up stakes today and are heading on to visit with Uncle Cy and Bonnie. They will be back through in a week or though so...I wish they could stay here all the time, I did not realize how nice it was having family around. Maybe other people take that for granted? 

It was nice having them come in and hang out after supper, having another woman handy, having someone to gripe to a bit, or to listen to her little gripes :). 

I am hoping when they come back through they will stay a few more weeks. We are going to miss her birthday.