Day 4

The only good thing about today is that we were dismissed until Monday morning! My back is killing me-I had to load up on muscle relaxers yesterday when I got home and had to do the same today. My back will spasm at times for unknown reasons-this week I KNOW it's because of all the sitting. The spasms are so painful-they can take my breath away. The muscle relaxers help but of course I can't take them when I need to be awake and alert so I'm in for another night of feeling like a zombie. I hate the feeling I get from them but I have no choice-any other remedy I try does not work. Hopefully I can knock it out tonight!

Day 3

WAH!!! After sitting in a room for two hours, we were called in the courtroom and told that there was a plea bargain so our services were not needed. Turns out the defendant was already in prison serving a 36 year sentence so what was a few more years, right? The charges we were presented for this case were armed robbery, aggrevated assault, kidnapping and possession of a firearm while a convicted felon. Sounds like this guy has known nothing other than prison. So, we were thrown back into the jury pool. We at least got to go home at 2:30. My back is killing me from all the sitting. My body is not used to sitting ALL DAY LONG!

Day 2

They called my name at about 10:15 along with about 21 others and said that a judge needed jurors for a criminal case. So, I went thru the jury selection process where questions are asked of us by the prosecutor and defense attorney and at the end of the day, I was seated on the jury. YIKES!! I'm kind of excited because I think it might be kind of interesting based on what I know so far. We'll see how I feel about come day 3 or so.

Jury Duty-Day 1

OMG. I will have to shoot myself if every day is like today. I am PRAYING that I at least get selected as a prospective juror and see the inside of a courtroom 'cause the jury pool room will no doubt put me over the edge in 1-2 days tops. I am not used to just sitting-that's all I did from 8 a.m.-noon, then a 1 1/2 hr. break for lunch (I went outside and walked) and then sit again for luckily just another hour. They dismissed us at 2:30. There weren't even any cute boys to look at!!

Mamma Mia!!

I saw it today. Loved it!! It made me want to sing and dance down the aisle of the movie theatre. I saw it with my wonderful friend Janine. We've been friends since the 7th grade and we have a thing for musicals. My secret is out. We saw "Grease" together on the big screen back in 1978-yes, that was 30 years ago this summer that the best musical of all time was released!!

Our trip to PA

And what a quick trip it was. We left at around 12:30 on Friday afternoon and drove about 4 hours or so to Clarion PA. We made sure we got a hotel with a pool so that Evan would have something to do after that leg of our trip. We then drove a couple hours Sat. morning to Ned and Jim's house where we spent about 4 hours with them. Although my mom told Jim she would be taking us all out to eat, Jim didn't listen to her and prepared a wonderful lunch for us. I have to say that I got quite choked up when Jim was sharing with us some of what Ned is going through (Ned was out of the room). He does alot of pacing at night, claiming that there are alot of people in his room. Consequently, Jim gets no sleep and it showed. Both of them are extremely thin and Jim looks horrible. I don't know how he's going to do it. They have made their burial arrangements and are going to see an elder attorney to get all their affairs in order. I was so happy to hear that. Anyhow, Ned was having a good day when we were there which we are all thankful for. We laughed as we talked about the past-they used to live in Maine and we had some fun times up there with them. It was hard to say good-bye.

We then went to a darling family run amusement park called Knoebels Grove www.knoebels.com. No admission charge to get in and you pay as you ride. Well, they had a Haunted House ride. Evan's eyes got huge when I told him that. We got a wheelchair for my mom and off we went to find the Haunted House. Well, once we got there, he dug his heels in and refused to ride it. I told him he'd regret it because he would just think about all the time and wonder what it was like. I think he rode one other ride and then decided he WOULD go in the Haunted House. Thank goodness my mom wanted to go too 'cause we got to skip the line (since she was in a wheelchair and all) and go right in-he didn't have time to think about it! I rode with Mom and Evan rode with Mike. OMG, it was the funniest thing, seeing him come out of that house. He said he was shaking but he loved it. We spent about 3 hot hours there and then back to a hotel. We were on the road by 9 a.m. and home at 2 p.m. on Sunday. I'm glad we were able to go and Mom was extremely grateful as well.

Oh, we've finally entered the modern world and now have DVR with our new cable thru AT&T!! I am hooked already.

More of swimming

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Yep, he's mine

Yes, Evan is definitely my child. He has become interested Goosebumps, both the books and DVDs of the TV show from the '90s. His favorite so far has to do with a living ventriloquist dummy-it's very freaky!! I mean, I can hardly watch it because the thought of it just creeps me out. Anyhow, I love scary stuff-loved it when I was a kid too. Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt, Halloween (best scary movie ever). You get the idea.

Speaking of scary, I saw a ghost again tonight in the woods near our house. Don't laugh or think I'm crazy. A few months ago I saw something while walking in a neighborhood near our house. I thought a person was in front of me but then all of sudden they were gone. There were no leaves on the trees at that point so I could see perfectly into the woods. Well, same thing happened tonight. Thought someone was walking in front of me-I actually had the thought that they may be a bit strange based on their walk. Looked down at my iPod and back up again within seconds and they were gone. Same place as before. FREAKY!!!

I'm in love

We went to see my cousin John and his family on Saturday and their cat had kittens just the day before. They are all calicos-of course Evan wants one (as does his mom). I have no idea how Kali would react. This is the cat who chased a big yellow lab around our house when I was dog-sitting for a neighbor last summer. Of course I have visions of her being very motherly towards the kitten but I'm not quite sure that would be the reality of the situation!

Do I have to come up with a title ALL THE TIME?

We woke up Monday morning to two police cars, an ambulance and the 10TV news van on our street, about three doors down. It was kind of scary at first, not knowing what was going on. I, of course, had to go out on the porch in my PJs and watch the action. The medics went in and came out, followed by a man holding the arm of an older woman. They got into the back of one of the police cars and took off and the new crews took off after them. Hmmm. I turned the news on and found out that a woman with Alzheimers had left her house sometime during the night (the last anyone saw her was at 10:00 pm) and made her way up High St. to our street where she was found on the front steps of our neighbor. I couldn't stop thinking about how scared she must of been and how absolutely terrified her family was as her son went over to care for her and she was gone. Not sure if/why she was living by herself but I'm sure the family has made other arrangements by now.

My dad's cousin Ned in PA has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers. It's a very sad situation. Ned and my dad were cousins but almost more like brothers. Ned was older but they grew up together and neither one had any siblings. To be honest, we're really the only family Ned has. His partner Jim (of 40 some years) has a son and grandchild but they are estranged because the son can't handle the fact that Jim is gay. Basically, they have no one other than us and we live 7 hours apart. I just don't know how Jim is going to care for Ned himself. We're going to take Mom next weekend to visit-although Ned may or may not even remember the visit (he's really bad with short term but still remembering the past), Mom feels as if she need to go see him now. So, it will be a quick trip to PA. I'm sure I'll be a mess as I just love them both so much.

More of swimming

I went with Evan to his lesson tonight. I actually rode my bike to the Worthington pool from our house! Mike took Evan in the bike trailer (he barely fits in it anymore but insists that he's comfortable). Anyhow, I think I may be a tad bit sore tomorrow seeing that I had to clean the cobwebs off of my bike (I lied-Mike actually did it for me). Evan has refused for years to get his face wet. Watch the video and see what he does. I'm so excited! BTW-he says he has to go pee. Typical Evan.

T-ball is over!!

Finally! The season just went on and on due to rain. He really enjoyed it again and says he wants to play coach pitch next year. We'll see. Oh, after this video was taken, he started losing his pants! I guess they were big enough to wear during the day but not to run in. :)