My Dad

Irvin Albert "Tiny" Quick
April 7, 1934 - November 6, 2012

Irvin "Tiny" Quick, 78, of Casper, Wyoming passed away on Tuesday November 6, 2012 surrounded by his loving family. 

Visitation will be held Thursday, November 8, 2012 at Newcomer

 Funeral Home Chapel from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Services will be held at Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery Friday, November 9, 2012 at 1:00PM with a reception to follow at Fraternal Order of Eagles (306 North Durbin Street) in Casper.

Tiny was born in Tekamah, Nebraska on April 7, 1934 to James Reed and Mabel (Barger) Quick where he was raised with three brothers and a sister.

In February of 1953 he joined the army to serve his country as a Parachute Instructor. Tiny earned a Parachute Badge, a National Defense Service Medal as well as a Good Conduct Medal. Tiny was honorably discharged in March 1955, but remained a dedicated patriot to his country throughout the remainder of his life.

Military Service has been and continues to be a pillar in the Quick Family. James Reed (Tiny's father) served in Belgium during World War II where he earned a Purple Heart.
All three of of Tiny's brothers, many of his nephews, as well as Tiny's youngest son and two of his grandsons carry on the family's dedication to their country through military service. Tiny was a proud soldier and our flag flew high everywhere he lived.

Tiny was a lifetime member of The American Legion, Samuel Mares Post #8 in Douglas, Wyoming. He served as Post Commander several times. District #2 Commander, Several Department Committees and Department Vice Commander. Tiny was the only Department Commander to serve a one and half year term. From there, he continued his service with the Legion as Alternate National Executive Committeeman and National Executive Committeeman. In addition he was also a member of the Sons of the American Legion.

Tiny loved many sports especially baseball, football and Nascar. He also enjoyed his personal time hunting, fishing, and camping; but his family will tell you his true passion was woodworking. He created furniture and wood projects treasured by his wife, children and grandchildren. Tiny donated many of his items to Legion Charities as well.

Tiny was preceded in death by both his parents, infant son Bobby and his brother Jim.

Tiny is survived by his wife of 54 1/2 years, Genene (Misfeldt) of Casper Wyoming; five children, Pam (Ronnie) Jackson of Rock Springs, WY; Jeff (Sandy) Quick of Leith, ND; Bill of Casper, WY; Marcy (Cleo) Cheney of Newnan, GA; and Scott (Shannon) Quick of Douglas, WY; twelve grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchilren. As well as siblings: Mal (Margaret) Quick of Wheatland, MO; Vince (Carol) Quick of Tekamah, NE; and sister Nondas Vitols of Blair, NE.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Wyoming American Legion Boys State Program Care of :
PDC Nels Lofgren (Treas)
385 Conrad Street
Buffalo, WY 82834

God took the strength of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree.

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea.

The generous soul of nature,

The comforting arm of night.

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle's flight.

Then God combined these qualities,

There was nothing more to add.

His masterpiece was now complete,

He lovingly called him Dad.

Mid~Terms

Last week marked the mid term for this semester of school...SERIOUSLY, that time flew by. I won't even try and lie and tell you that it's been easy. In fact, the first 2 weeks of school, I was so stressed out wondering what the heck I had just gotten myself into. I was so far outside my comfort zone that my stomach was in knots and I lost almost 5 pounds that first week. And then I thought, okay if I can lose a few pounds in this process, maybe this will be worth it after all, LOL;) Sadly, the 5 pounds found their way back to me in the weeks since.

Cleo has been working in Arkansas since the week after I started school and he only gets to come home every other weekend. This gives me the house all to myself and plenty of quiet time to study and complete assignments. BUT, I hate being home alone. I need someone to talk to and complain to or even just someone to give me positive reinforcement or tell me I'm overreacting to a situation and to calm down. Don't get me wrong, Cleo and I talk multiple times daily and he is VERY supportive, but it's just not the same as having him home with me. Judging by me reaction to the first couple weeks of school, I'm almost positive he's glad he wasn't home, haha!!! We hope he will be done in the next couple weeks and home for good...should be home just in time to watch me stress over studying for finals...Lucky Guy;)

So after the first couple weeks, Stella (AKA..Me) found her groove and developed some decent study practices. I was most concerned about my Comp class...those of you who know me, have no doubt heard me refer to myself as "technologically challenged" more than once. I almost dropped the class after week 2, thinking maybe I would just take it next semester when I won't have so many classes and I would have more time to focus on it. I'm so glad I didn't ... my mid-term grade was an A! I am so surprised, but I actually really love this class. I think because it's instant gratification when I can see that I'm doing something correctly and also a lot of the assignments are submitted and graded instantly, so no need to wait a week to get your grades. I also have an A in English and Intro to Health Care, and as near as I can figure I also have an A in Medical Terminology, although he told us last night he doesn't have them figured yet. I expect a lot out of myself and hope to end up with A's in all 4 classes at the end of the semester.

I have found school to be much more rewarding than I had anticipated. I have made a few friends and enjoy being in classes with both younger students, and those closer to my age. I appreciate so much the struggles that others are going through. I watch in awe as these young, and often times single Moms, struggle to keep up with jobs and kids and school. And the older students who have lost jobs and find themselves having to learn new skills to find employment. I love the diversity of the faculty and students and opportunity to meet new people. 

So, with only about 5-6 weeks left in this semester (Yay for a whole week off at Thanksgiving!) I can actually start to breathe...the end of this semester is in sight! Hopefully, I will be bragging on my next post about the straight A's I got...OH SNAP, I probably just jinxed myself;)

It's For REAL!!!

Looking at my blog today, I realize that I've really neglected it:(  So much so, that I had no clue the Blogger layout had changed so drastically and I wasn't even sure how to do a new post, LOL!  After careful...erhh, somewhat trash talking to my computer...I figured it out.  I sure hope my Intro to Computers Class will be helpful in the future for just such occasions.

SOOO...I guess this is really happening...I'm officially a college student!  Ok, so technically it won't be official until I step foot in my first class on Aug. 13th, BUT I have my class schedule...Books and Tuition are paid (YIKES!!) and I even bought a few "starter supplies".  I really have no clue what I may actually need, so I asked Sara (my daughter) because she just finished school in January.  She told me to get  pen, pencil, paper and highlighters and that should get me started.  I really wasn't planning to use a backpack or book bag as I thought I was just a little too old for that, but after seeing the books and realizing on Tuesdays I will have 3 back-to-back-to back classes with only a 10 minute break in between, I thought better of that.

I will only have 1 class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10-11:15am so those days should be easy peesy.  On Tuesdays my brain will seriously be in overload mode...3 classes starting at 3:15pm and not ending until 9:40pm.    On Thursdays I will also only have 1 class, from 5:30-7:30pm so this day should be easy as well.  I had no choice but to take night classes on Tuesday & Thursday or else I would have to drive to another campus...I really had no interest in doing that.  I'm actually kind of glad now that I don't have any early classes as I'm so not a morning person anymore:)  Next semester I will only need one class and a lab and can finish the last 2 classes in the Summer session next year.  SO...by this time next year, I hope to be educated, graduated and most importantly employed!

I am getting very excited to start (and finish!) but have to admit that I'm just a little nervous too.  I'm not nervous to be the "oldest" kid in class, but nervous that I won't have good study habits.  I mean it has been a really long time since I've taken a class.  When I was in High School, things came easy to me and I never really had to study to get good grades...imagine if I had studied a bit more, I may not be in the boat I'm in now..LOL:)  High school, for me, was more of a social game and this time around I'm not going to school to make friends (although you can never have too many friends, right?).  Funny how my Mom telling me "When you're older, you'll realize lifes' not always fun and games" is now all I can hear in my head.  Although this is not a game, I do hope it will be fun.

 My books, starter supplies and the backpack I bought 10 years ago to use on a Medical Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic....boy, did that come in handy!

West Georgia Tech in Newnan is not a big campus at all, but I asked for a map so that I could plot my route to and from class and the shortest distance to each, haha:)  I was a little nervous about having such a late class on Tuesday nights and going to the parking lot after dark, but I was reassured there is plenty of security, cameras and ample lighting in the main parking lot.  I was advised though to always walk in a group or at least in pairs to my car...no worries, you don't need to tell me twice!

That's it...in a nutshell...I'm a West Georgia Tech Golden Knight!!!  Hopefully, my next blog post about school will be filled with interesting stories and most importantly passing grades:):):)  Wish me luck Peeps

Wyoming Trip

Cleo and I were able to fly to Casper, WY last week to visit with my family.  We flew out of Atlanta on Saturday morning...Cleo almost had a "melt down" at the airport...BUT,  we made the flight and arrived in Casper around 1:30 in the afternoon;)  It was kind of cold (by Georgia standards!) and windy but it wouldn't be Wyoming without the wind, right??  My parents picked us up at the airport and we then met up with my sister and her hubby and both my brothers and their wives and had a nice, relaxing lunch at a local sports bar/restaurant.  It was nice to catch up with everyone.  We all went to Mom and Dads afterwards and had a really great time.  Cleo and I were a bit tired and went to bed around 10:00 (midnight to us, but yeah we wussed out!).

Sunday morning everyone (sans Shannon...yup, I ratted on ya girl, lol!) came back to Mom and Dads and my brother in law Ron cooked breakfast for everyone.  He brought his big ole grill all the way from Rock Springs for just this occasion...Show Off, HAHA!!  But seriously, it was delish and very filling.  We just chilled the rest of the day and then went to Jeff and Sandys' house Sunday night for a BBQ.  Jeff grilled the strangest looking ribs I've ever seen...they were super thin, with no fat (which was awesome..I HATE fat on meat!) and marinated in a concoction Sandy made...they were pretty dang good.

Monday...Memorial Day...Ron cooked breakfast AGAIN (I was a good girl today and ate my yogurt instead, LOL).  I got to see my 3 nieces and my great niece and nephew, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of the family while we were all together:(  It could be that I was running my mouth non-stop and was focusing on creating the memories, not capturing them:)  I did get some random pics which I will post at the end of this blog, but there is none of Pam and Ron, or Shannon or my nieces...DANG it!

Tuesday...finally a nice day...little to no wind and warm temps.  Said goodbye to Pam and Ron as they headed back to Rock Springs.  So glad they were able to come hang with us for the long weekend.  It was a  perfect day for Scott to take us to Glendo Lake and out fishing on his boat.  My nephew Brandon had just finished working and met us in Douglas..it was so great to see him!  Again, Shannon dogged us (LOL, you are seriously never gonna live it down!) So it was just me and "the boys"...Scott, Cleo and Brandon.  Scott rigged up his pole for Cleo, Branden had his own and Scott ended up fishing with Shannons' pink, sparkly pole.  It was the funniest sight to see him with that pole and when I went to take his pic with that pole, somehow he managed to hide it...it figures he was the only one to catch anything the entire afternoon.  It's true...Shannons' blingy fishing pole ROCKS!  I got more pics this day than any of the other days...probably because the boys were fishing and I wasn't...I don't do well when I'm made to be quiet or still, so I played with the camera.  After losing my last phone to a "water accident", I was trying to be so careful not to lose this one in the lake.  It was a great day on Glendo Lake....a big thanks to Scott for taking us out.

That night, Cleo and I took my parents to dinner.  It was nice to have a little time alone with just the 4 of us.  After dinner, we drove around a little to see all the changes to Casper since we were last there and then headed to Menards to pick up some shingle oil for Dads' fence.  Cleo was going to put it on for my Dad on Wednesday, but they didn't carry it...sorry Dad:(  We went back to the house and just relaxed and visited some more.

Wednesday, I met up with a friend from high school who happened to be in the states (she lives in New Zealand),  We hadn't seen each other in more years than I care to mention and we had such a great time catching up over lunch.  Our poor waitress thought we would never order lunch...but she was pretty patient with us and just let us enjoy our visit.  I forgot pictures...AGAIN...as I was running my mouth (imagine that!!).  Thank you Charissa for the wonderul visit and you just never know, one day we may show up on your doorstep in NZ!  Cleo ran a few errands while I was at lunch and then just hung out in Dads' shop with him. My niece, Jessica came up late in the afternoon and took me out for a Mocha Mud at Metro Coffee Shop.  She got me hooked on them when I was there last year.  It was nice to spend a little quality time with her and chat about life.  That evening, we went to watch my great nephew Ashtons' baseball game.  It was so fun watching him play and the smile on his face when he saw us in the stands was priceless.  It took me back to the days of watching Jarod play ball...I miss those days.  This was our last night in Casper and we tried to relish every last moment of it.

 Ashton...Yup, I was cheering for the Yankees!

 Brandon and Cleo...fishing Glendo Lake

 Scott...he just would not let me get a pic of him with the pink bling pole!

 I wasn't really fishing, just holding the pole for Cleo.  That would be his big ole finger at the top of the picture, lol.

 The beautiful sunset...Wyoming is so beautiful.

 Just a little Wyoming wildlife...

 My oldest brother Jeff and I...he had just stopped by on his way home from work.

 The BEST parents a girl could ever ask for (and a pic of Moms beautiful flowers!)...Love you both so much.

It was a very nice, relaxing visit...we had lots of laughs and good times and even though I didn't capture all the memories with pictures, they are etched in my brain for all time.  Thank you to my siblings and their spouses for spending your holiday weekend with us and a huge thank you to my Mom and Dad for the hospitality.  We love you so much and are hoping that you will be able to come out this Fall to Georgia.

Time Flies...

Just realized it's been a couple months since I've updated the blog!  Whew, time sure flies when you're having fun, or doing lots of yardwork, or just pretty much living your life:)  Cleo and I love this time of year..Braves baseball games and time to start doing yardwork and making things look all pretty for all the gawkers driving by.  It's so fun to be outside and getting fresh air and exercise while actually accomplishing something.

We got new neighbors last Fall and they are really great people.  It's really funny because Danny (new neighbor) and Cleo seem to have this "unspoken competition" going on about whos yard is greener, has less weeds, who gets their fertilizer on first, etc, etc, etc.  They help each other cut down dead trees, borrow tools from each other and just generally get along really good.  Most of you know that Cleo isn't a really big "People Person", so this is a big step for him...LOL:):):)  It's nice to have them next door and really nice that they care as much about their yard as we do ours and it's really nice to have friends for neighbors:)

We put up a pergola on the back porch and stained the concrete.  We bought some new patio furniture and it's so nice to sit out there in the afternoon and evenings and have some shade.  That was our big project for this year and I'm glad it's done before the weather starts getting really hot & humid.  Next year, we'd like to terrace the backyard and make a large flower/shrub/bush garden with stairs going up into the back woods.  We've put in a few azalea bushes and hibiscus which add a little color to the yard, but that will probably be it this year...the rest will wait until after the project next year.  It really has become the hobby we both love and can do together...yardwork, hmm who knew??  If you'd have told me 10 years ago this would happen I'd have certainly bet against that:)  All of which brings me to the next subject:  Cleos' health.

We saw his Nephrologist today for the first time since right before his transplant.  It's now been 15 months since the transplant and he will alternate visits every 3 months for the next year between the Transplant team and his Nephrologist.  We certainly LOVE the Piedmont Transplant Team, but we also really Love his Nephrologist, Dr. Khan.  She is awesome and happens to be here in Newnan, which is just so much more convenient than going up to Atlanta.  His labs all looked good and she's very pleased with how stable he is and that there haven't been any rejection episodes and really nothing adverse since his CMV scare last Fall. He continues to have lots of energy and feels wonderful.  We are both so thankful for such wonderful doctors and all their staff...say what you will about big corporations buying out practices, hospitals etc., and I know many who don't care for Piedmont and their practices, but we have had nothing but really great experiences with them.  We are excited that the Newnan hospital is now a Piedmont Hospital and are very excited for the new, state of the art hospital which will be opening here in just a couple weeks.  They have a 10 year plan in place to bring many more top notch physicians and services to our area which will do so much to boost our local economy.  We are believers in Piedmont!!!!

We look forward to lots more baseball...and yardwork, but check with me in July or August about the yardwork, my guess is we'll be hating in by then, LOL;)  Happy Spring Y'all

Family Fun Day

When we first left Wyoming and moved East, we lived in a burb of Charlotte, NC.  We were pretty overwhelmed being from "the sticks" and then suddenly living in the burbs of a city with a larger population than the whole state of Wyoming!  Since we didn't know too many people, we decided to do Family Fun Day at least once a month.  I think at first Jarod and Sara were ok with this because they didn't know too many people either, but I'm sure as they started making friends and getting involved in school activities, they dreaded our weekend Family Fun Days!  We had some really great times...we toured an abandoned gold mine, we drove around the beautiful country roads and found cotton fields.  That was a pretty fun day, wouldn't you agree Sara? Sara and I wanted to get out and pick some cotton...we'd never ever seen cotton fields, let alone picked it...so we convinced Cleo to stop the car and let us out.  Cleo and Jarod were nervous for us, ok maybe they were more concerned about themselves, what with all the stories we'd heard about "Southern pride" and protecting ones' crops.  So Sara and I got out of the car, ran through the fields and yes, we did pick some cotton.  Well, sure enough as we were in the middle of the field, the landowner slowly approached our car in an old pickup truck and you could all but see the shotgun tucked away right next to him on the seat of that old truck.  Cleo and Jarod were livid...yelling at us to hurry up.  We ran back to the car, as fast as Sara and I could run, but not before we had a handful of cotton and we sped off leaving behind a trail of dust!  I had such grand ideas about the cute, crafty things we could make with that cotton, but as you guessed, that never happened, LOL!  One of the most "epic" FFDs' we had was our trip to the "zoo" in Asheville.  Cleo loves zoos and he really wanted to go to one, so he suggested we drive to the zoo in Asheville.  I said "do you know where it is?" he said "no, but we'll stop when we get there and ask directions"...so with that we loaded into the car and headed for Asheville to see the zoo.  It was a pretty drive, we'd never been to Asheville and we (Cleo and I, not so much Jarod & Sara) looked forward to a fun family day.  We got to Asheville and drove around looking for signs that might lead us to the zoo...nothing, no signs at all, so I finally convinced Cleo to stop at the Chamber of Commerce and we can surely find a brochure for the zoo.  We found lots of brochures for things to do and see in the Asheville area, but no zoo.  I finally asked someone (much to Cleos' dislike...what man likes to ask for help??) and wouldn't you know, there is NO zoo in Asheville...it's in Asheboro, NC...SERIOUSLY???  We ended up at the Nature Center, which had a few animals, but it wasn't exactly a zoo.  The kids were not amused, at all!!!  We drove back home through Chimney Rock, which is a super windy road but had lots of really fun stores and a really good little place to eat...did I mention Sara gets car sick??  Umm yeah, she did not enjoy this route home...not one bit.  We asked Cleo on the ride home why he thought the zoo was in Asheville...his answer, "Asheville just sounds like the kind of place a zoo would be"...that was before our look it up on Google days:)

Keeping all that in mind and all the fun times we had back in the day, Cleo and I decided this past Saturday we'd have a FFD with just the two of us.  We normally like to be at home on the weekends, out in the yard or the woods behind the house, but the weather man said the high would be about 59 and it would be rainy most of the day.  We ended up in McDonough, or maybe it was Hampton I'm still not really sure but the Atlanta Motor Speedway was in sight so we were in the vicinity.  We found an Academy Sports store, which was Cleos' goal all along, and spent several hours there.  The place was packed...packed like it was a closeout sale or something!  Maybe all those people thought it was going to rain too...I don't know but there was a lot of people in that store.  Cleo wanted to buy a pair of girly, camo rain boots for me...he had seen them in the online ad...so we headed for the shoe section first.  It was a "madhouse" and Cleo was not amused at all that the herd didn't part when he walked down the aisle:)  I took the buggy and headed the other direction...I did not want any part of what I thought would be a "scene"!  I decided to head back after several minutes when I hadn't seen, or more importantly heard from Cleo.  He was pissed...pissed because he couldn't find the exact boots he'd seen online and he really wanted me to have those boots (Bless his heart...yup, one of my favorite endearing Southern slang terms).  He did mange to find a camo jacket and 2 cute shirts, with camo trim that he bought for me, and a few things he "needed" before leaving the store.  He is obsessed with buying me things that are camo...I need to find a way to camo a diamond into this obsession...oh wait, that would be a lump of coal, yeah no I'm good...I don't know what I'd even do with a lump of coal except maybe wait a million years or so for it to turn into a diamond;)

We ended up eating a nice late lunch in Fayetteville at a place called Franks @ the Old Mill...it was AMAZING!  We'd driven by this place many times and heard great things about it, but had never stopped.  It was worth the whole trip.  We will definitely be going there again.

So, my short story made long, the weather man was WRONG, it never did rain and it got up to 72 degrees...a perfect day to be outside, in the yard or the woods but in keeping with our FFD traditions, it was a fantastic day spent with my sweet hubby.  I hope we have  many, many more adventures and stories to tell on our FFDs to come.

Resisting Change!!!

Yeah, the title says it all...I don't know why I resist technology, or learning more about electronic things.  You would think I don't like change but I don't think that's always the case, in fact I embrace "change of scenery (love to travel), change of seasons (love watching trees & flowers come back to life) and I love switching it up when it comes to trying new recipes (not necessarily making them, but ordering a "new" dish in a restuarant, haha!).  BUT, and that's a big BUT...I do seem to lack the necessary skills to learn new technology at the same pace as the general population.

First case in point...when we moved to NC almost 16 years ago and opened a new checking/savings account, the bank (First Union at the time who then got bought out by Wachovia and are now Wells Fargo...see they have no problem with change!)...anywhoo, they issued us these funny things called ATM cards.  I resisted, no refused to use it for years (literally years) because I thought for sure if you stuck this card into an ATM machine or tried to use it at a store instead of cash or a check that surely someone could easily steal your identity.  LOL, while that's probably more true now than it was back then (the part about stealing identity), it sure is much easier than always making sure you have cash on hand, not to mention most places won't take checks anymore.  Shortly after starting to use this thing called an ATM card, people started calling it a debit card...sheesh, I just got used to the ATM wordage, now they're changing to a debit card, keep up Marcy!  I was then notified via email, that you could start paying your bills online, wait what?? Seriously, you expect me to figure that out?  Ha, that one was pretty easy and now I am seriously annoyed if I have to actually write out a check and put a stamp on the envelope to actually mail a bill in.  I don't like relying on the Postal service to get anything where it needs to be in a decent amount of time (another blog post in itself!).

Second case in point...Learning to text!  I remember distinctly telling me kids that I thought this was very "impersonal" and I would  NEVER do it...lesson learned, never say NEVER.  I love texting, sometimes you just have something quick to say and you just don't wanna get into a whole conversation.

Third case in point...Doing away with a home phone, going strictly to cell phones.  Again, this one took me years.  It really was a "no-brainer", but until I understood the concept that I could still have internet (wireless internet, again a new concept for me!) without having a home phone line I didn't think it was possible to have one without the other.  Wow, saving $$ there...ok, so we broke down and bought Cleo a personal cell and bundled that with my cellular plan, so not really saving $$, but one less bill to pay online, haha!  Probably the biggest advantage to NOT having a home phone is the lack of telemarketing calls...oh I hope I didn't just jinx myself and they get hold of my cell phone #.

Fourth case in point...Learning to change my blog background, all by myself:)  I have had a blog for quite a few years and although I managed to figure out how to upload pics to it and do new posts frequently, the one thing that eluded me was how to change the background.  So, from the time I started it until about 4-5 months ago, every time I wanted a new background (see, I do like change!) I would, at first call then after learning to text, I would get ahold of Sara and tell her which one I wanted, then she would log into my blog and change it for me and Voila a pretty new background.  Sara says I'm a "big girl" now and I think I've already changed it 3 times since Christmas.  Practice makes perfect!

Fifth case in point...A stand mixer (KitchenAide), this thing is awesome!!  My sisters-in-law all have one and they all make the best bread...I was always envious and they kept telling me to just get a mixer and it would be a piece of cake (yup, it will mix those too!).  I made 2 (count 'em, 2!) loaves of bread last week and they were so yummy.  I made cookies (with a recipe found on Pinterest, another interesting new find) yesterday and am looking for more recipes to try out.  Ok, so Cleo may be getting more out of this new gadget than me but it's been fun cooking and baking again and it just looks good on my counter:)

Sixth (and for now the last) case in point...Learning to navigate the world of my Ipad2.  Now, I have to admit I kept telling Cleo that I didn't need one, but if he wanted one to go ahead and get it.  Bless his heart, he bought me one anyway and he is still using his old laptop, what a sweetheart!  Lets just say I LOVE IT!!!   I had the Geek Squad set it up for me at Best Buy...I didn't want to use the warranty before the thing was less than 24 hours out of the box, LOL!  I downloaded Pandora and absolutely LOVE listening to music while reading or doing housework.  I have yet to do the IBooks, I think I still prefer to hold a book, turn the pages and coming back to the book a day or two later and actually seeing how deep into it the bookmark is.  I finally started doing Pinterest after resisting for a really long time the urging of others to join.  I'm still not 100% sure how the whole Pinterest thing works..as soon as I accepted the invite, it immediately said I was following like 75 people and their boards/pins...yikes, how did that happen??  I'm actually assuming that since you sign in using your facebook account, you are automatically following all your fb friends that are on there.  I promise I'm not stalking you people, I'm just learning how to look through the thousands of things this site has to offer.  If you don't want me to follow you, you'll have to delete me because I sure as heck don't know how to delete you;).  My friend Lauren popped in last night for a few minutes and she showed me a couple game apps to install...Words with Friends and Dice with Friends...ADDICTING!  You play with friends online and the games can last hours, or even days.  I know, the majority of you reading this already knew that tidbit of info, but I was up until after midnight last night playing and waiting "my turn" not knowing you could actually just put the thing down and come right back to it the next day...LOL, thanks Lauren:-)

I am a slow-learner with technology, I vow to do better, but keeping it real...that probably won't happen anytime soon.  It's not so much that I don't like change (I do, I really, really do!) I think I'm just stubborn...yeah I know, that won't come as a huge surprise to most!!  But, It is what It is...and that, my friends, won't change!

Don't Blink

Ok, so I'm officially a day late for this blog entry...BUT yesterday was a BIG day and we were out running around and having fun, so here I am officially one day late for a milestone anniversary.  They always say the first year is the hardest and other than a few minor setbacks, it really wasn't that bad.  Seems like just yesterday and it really is hard to believe it's already been a year...CRAZY!!

Yesterday, January 14, 2012 was the one year anniversary of Cleos' successful kidney transplant...YAY!!!  He is doing so good, feels great, looks great and all indications are that he's on the right track to a long and healthy future with a very strong kidney.  He's a rock star (well, not officially but in my world he is!).  He has learned to live life to the fullest, every single day and not take his health for granted.  He goes in on Tuesday for his one year appt and we're hoping at that time Piedmont will start alternating visits with his local nephrologist on an every 3 month basis instead of the every month (sans the last appt which was 2 months) he has been doing.  HUGE step ahead in the right direction...never thought we'd see the day...DON'T BLINK!

I will also go in on Tuesday for my one year post-donation appt.  It's really just for bloodwork and a necessary formality for statistical purposes.  I will go again at the 2 year mark and then I'm officially done...DON"T BLINK!

In the year since Cleos' surgery, we've gained a beautiful new daughter in law (Mikell, Kyles' wife) and a sweet new grandson (Dachu, Cori & Brandons' son).  Crazy how fast life just moves on, with or without you...DON'T BLINK!

We certainly don't live a glamorous lifestyle, but we do try to live each day to the fullest, enjoy every single little moment and most importantly show our Love to family and friends.  We never mind talking about the transplant to people who ask legitimate questions...our way of giving back and helping to spread the word about Living Donation.

In the words of Kenny Chesney "In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're living in" you better do it, say it, show it and live it because you just never know how many tomorrows we have left.  Live, Love and Laugh my sweet family and friends.

Besides, if you blink you might just have one of these fall on your head and knock that good sense right outta ya, LOL!

Happy 2012