2 years 5 months later

So my last blog post had said that it could be months before I would write again.  2 years and 5 months later here I am.  Ha ha ha  
Wish I could say I would get better at this and I always have such good intentions but then I just do not do it.  Follow through seems to be a rough thing for me.   I don't remember being like this when I was younger.   I followed through with everything.  I was among top percent of my high school class, involved in many activities, had jobs that I was good at, etc......  Not sure where I started to go wrong.  Although I am still a very reliable person.  Just not good at keeping up with writing like I should.

By now I was supposed to have published a book.  Maybe two, three or even more published.  I kept telling everyone that when we retired I would definitely do it.  Here we are 1 1/2 years into retirement and that book is still a distant goal.   Perhaps someday (I will keep telling myself that).  My daughter even commented on something a week or so ago that I had put on Facebook about how I needed to make the goal of being published a reality.   Like I said.... maybe someday.

So Pat retired in October of 2014.  We then relocated to North Carolina from New Jersey that November.   I love my house here in NC.  Picked out and decorated by us.  First house I have actually ever gotten to pick out in my life and completely decorate.  When Pat and I got together he already had a house that his parents actually helped pick out.  As great as it was raising our kids there and living there for 20 years, I never felt it was truly mine.  I didn't pick out the rugs, floors, etc....  I didn't pick the house in any way at all.  Now, I had all of the say in this house.  Pat was good about that.  He knew what I wanted and he made sure he got it for me.  We may have gone a bit bigger than necessary, but it's an awesome house!   Have I mentioned how much I love my husband yet in this post?   If not, well there it is.  He is the absolute best!!   He would have to be to put up with me the way he does.  I am not the easiest person in the world to love.  Ha ha

So anyway, here we are, retired & living in NC.   It's a nice, quiet existence.  For example right now I have soothing spa music playing in the house, windows are all wide open, sun is shining, birds are chirping and I am very relaxed.   Pat is at his part time job.  He decided to take a part time job even though he is now retired just so we would have some extra spending money.  He is awesome and that job enables us to eat out much more than I have to cook.  Ha ha   Can't beat that!!
We are so lucky to have 3 of our 5 kids here too.  When we were planning the move only Tony & his family were here.   The girls both ended up coming too when we moved which made us very happy.  We do miss our remaining kids, grandkids & other family that are in NJ, but luckily, NJ is only a 6 hour drive for us.   We are empty nesters now as none of our kids are living at home.  It's definitely a bit strange, especially when we chose such a big house.  But the house is great for entertaining and having all of the family over.   We were also very happy that my brother, Kevin, his wife & their little girl decided to relocate here as well about 7 months ago or so.  Our family in NC is growing!

So more stuff from the last 2 years and 5 months that has happened since my last post on the blog....

We have a new granddaughter.  Her name is Natalie and she was born this past November.  She is adorable.  Sadly we have not gotten to meet her in person yet as she is in NJ and we did not get back there over the winter.  We do plan to go very soon now that the weather is breaking.  No way were we travelling during the winter to NJ where they had snow.  We hate snow.  But I can not wait to hold that sweet little girl!
My brother Kevin & his wife Julie had a little girl.  Her name is Lorelai and they gave her our Mom's middle name of Merilyn.  She is about 19 months old now.  Love her to death.  Such a smart, sweet little girl.   All of our other grandkids are growing like weeds.  Our oldest turns 8 next week!  Unbelievable!

Anyone who knows me knows that I was always obsessed with my bird feeders and watching birds on them, taking photos, etc....   Well I decided it was a great idea since I loved birds so much to get a couple in house birds.  I have now been the proud owner of two conures for the past almost 2 years.  They are something else.  Some days I feel like my nerves may be shot with their constant "yelling" (they are doing it right now).  But I adore them just the same.  They are so cool.  I love their quieter sounds they make and love how they will mimic sounds I make.  They say that they can be taught some words but so far mine refuse to speak that way.  It's ok, they are still cute.  Ha ha

We lost our oldest dog, Patch, a few months ago.  He was 15.  It was so sad and I still find myself many days thinking about him and getting sad all over again.  We still have 3 dogs (Bella, Rajah & Zoey).  Bella is 10 now, Rajah is turning 9 this month and Zoey will be 7 in June.   Love all of my animal babies.  Thinking of adding a Bengal cat next.  Ha ha ha    Yep, let's just turn my big house into a zoo since it's void of people.  Ha ha

My husband had a heart attack this past August.  Was the very worst thing in the world.  We were all so scared.  We never saw it coming.  He and I had been working really hard at getting healthy and had both lost around 40 pounds through changing our eating habits and lots of exercise.  Then one morning.... BOOM!   After all was said and done the doctor told us that had I not gotten him to the hospital when I did (we weren't really 100% sure he was having a heart attack at the time or something else), he would have died that day!  He had a 100% blockage in one of his main arteries and some other blockages in others.   Happy to say he is doing very well now.

My father has also been giving us quite the scare this past year.  He has had two heart attacks in the last 6 months or so.  His cancer has also returned and now we are waiting on results to see if his treatments for that worked or not.  For those that pray, I would appreciate prayers for my Dad.  For those that do not pray, good thoughts always appreciated.   Hoping the treatments worked and hoping his heart will get stronger after the heart attacks.

Well that is the short version of the catch up for the last couple of years.  I know I have missed tons, but I'm sure I will catch up with all of that too at some point.  Some stories aren't mine to tell either with the catch up on the last years.

I have challenged myself to read more this year.  I had originally given myself a goal of 25 books for 2016.  However, I have now read 16 already in 2016 so thinking I will crush that goal.  I have been enjoying my reading.  Now if I could just get on track with my writing that would be great!

Write later and hopefully that doesn't mean a couple of years later.....  Ha ha ha ha ha