rough play with Josh.

Comment on a facebook post:

Josh O'Toole

I always remember one time I didn't want to play a big rough game and I thought I would make a big joke by making a "Roots" reference, saying that we would play a game called "Toby" - I told the girls you played by I would hit you and throw you and pummel you and keep asking what your name was and I wouldn't stop hitting you until you told me your name was 'Toby' - the only rule of the game was, you were not allowed to tell me your name was Toby.
Tammy immediately said "I don't want to play."
Tracy said "Well, just don't hit me too hard, ok?"

Missing Your Kids.

     I'm really missing your kids right now, kiddo.

Haven't seen or talked to them since Thanksgiving. They didn't even call me or text me to say Happy Birthday. (Christmas was sad, and they hadn't called me then, either, but there's no grudge there. I'm the one who had to cancel at the last minute.)Between the weather, my health, and my car's condition, I just haven't been able to get there. Seems like I'm farther away now than when you were in Georgetown and we were in Winchester.

    There's no "we" anywhere now for me, not in Winchester, not in Bethel, not in our 'hub' of Mt. Orab. Tracy's miles away (good for her; I'm proud), and you and your daddy are gone. 

    I miss you, but this last few months I've finally begun adjusting to that. It's been a long hard pull, almost three years, but maybe I'm finally getting on. I guess I hope so, anyway. 

    It's those strange weeks between my birthday and yours,(also known as February) with Valentine's Day smack in the middle. That's always been a pleasant time for us, although I can't say anything specific that we've regularly done or shared. It's just that somehow, the month of February, at least right now, seems like the time we have usually been closest, as a matter of routine. 

    That probably doesn't make much sense, because it's really hard to explain. Mostly because I don't understand it myself. Maybe because it's one of those delusions that sneak up when one is bereaved. I don't know.

    I miss you, but I know there's nothing to be done about that, except cherish memories and share photographs, I suppose.

    And try to see your kids. I want to hear them and hug them so badly.  Hopefully soon I'll be well enough and it will be warm and dry enough for me to make the drive.

    In the meantime, you know if no one else does how often and how yearningly I think of them. 

And you.   

Be happy, my dear, wherever you are, in whatever form your energy is in.

I love you and miss you still.

Christmas 2015

Tammy got me a camera for Christmas! Sadly, the battery pooped out after only three of so pictures, and it was too dark in the house to take decent phone pictures.
Hailey's doll house was overshadowed, for her, by a pink wig and a desktop easel. She also got a magnificent FROZEN drawing set from her Mommy, which rather overwhelmed her. She didn't make much of it, to Mommy's disappointment (Mommy worked hard to get that for her the store almost sold out and we has only seen them in that one store.) But when Mommy wasn't looking, she kept going back and looking at it, and touching the different elements (paints, crayons, stickers) through the package. She knew she wasn't going to be able to thoroughly enjoy it yet, so she sort of set it aside.
Warren's first gift he opened was a truck Hailey got for him, and he pretty much didn't care for those other packages. He had a brand new, rolling, noise making truck! Mommy ended up opening most of his packages for him while he played with his new truck.
He did get momentarily distracted by a set of tools, with a wrench and a drill -- the wrench wasn't big enough to open his sippy cup, though.
He also got one of those things where you put a ball at the top and it rolls down and around and he played with that for a long long time.
He got another truck with a tool kit on the back (boy did all those Santa know what lil boy would like?) that also made noise, and he carried that around for a minute, then parked it in the doll house, which gave all us grown ups a good laugh. Hailey barely glanced at it, and here Warren was turning it onto a parking garage! The joke was on us.
Hailey got a purple cheetah jacket that she fell i n love with and Warren got some building blocks to stack -- Ta Da!-- and they got other stuff but those are the highlights.
Of this morning. And for me; my perspective.
Would like to add that this was only possible with a lot of help from a lot of santas, and this is a way of publicly thanking them. Only they know who some of them are.

Hailey was SICK! Sept 16, 2019

My goodness what a day!
Hailey is without a doubt her mother's daughter, in the realm of general health.
Hailey has had a sore throat/cold since late Sunday. Last night her jaw and neck started hurting and she hasn't been able to eat.
So Tam made her a Dr appointment, even though she had no fever or anything. We were thinking ear or sinus infection was making the jaw hurt.
She has strep throat and tonsillitis. Her right tonsil is so swollen it was displacing the uvula. The left tonsil is also swollen, not as much, but it is nearly touching the right tonsil.
Pretty well on the way to blocking her airway.
Swelling around the right tonsil Concerned them about an abscess and there was talk of ENT and Children's. Five Mile and Downtown. Tam hadn't been to bed yet after working last night.
They sent us straight to the ER in mt Orab. The Dr there ( Dr Gries) decided there is no abcess at this time and we've been saved, for now, from the longer trip. Hopefully it will not become necessary and the antibiotics will work quickly and effectively.
Just like Tammy, when this child gets sick, she gets SICK.
(AT office they looked at her record and said has it really been she hasn't been here since 2017? Yeah, because she doesn't get sick)
Poor thing is miserable with squeaky little voice and lots of hurting.
Man, she has my respect for not being a whiny ass puling little crybaby.

Keys to the Kar

 Do you remember this, Tammy? How stoopid I felt when we finally figured it out, and how we giggled tekking the sroty to others. 

I'm so glad to have these memories to look back on. 

I just wish you were still here to laugh with me.

I am such an IDIOT! 

Or maybe just brain dead. 

Took Tammy to Kroger and decided at last minute to take her car. So we went to the store, came back out, and got in. I took keys off the keyring and put in ignition, but the key would not turn. It would not go forward, backward, jiggle up or down or anything. 

We called home and David told us to do all the stuff we had already done. It still didn't work. 

Ended the phone call and Tammy was still trying to get it to work. 

I started to say something about all the jiggly things maybe weighing it down too much, when I suddenly noticed that there were NO jiggly things. So I checked my keyring.

Yup. That's what I did. 

Sitting in a hot parking lot with the sun beating down on us, we were trying to start the Escort with keys belonging to the Crown Vic.
(On the plus side, they didn't work. That's always good to know.)

toys for Two August 24, 2013

Put baby Warren on floor this morning and got toys from the toybox for him.
Hailey immediately hollered "Those are my toys!"
I said, "Yes, but you have to share."
She said "Okay" and sat down and started playing with him and them.

They Might Be Spiders :May7, 2018

Hailey was doing a quiz thing and the question was : do you make decisions about others based on their appearance .
She asked me what that meant and I said do you judge others by how they look.
She turned back to computer and chose "yes", then turned back around to me and said, " yes, because they might be spiders."
Well, the question just said others, not other people.
Still baffled