Weekend Update:

Friday Evening: We went to the visitation of a dear friend and an icon in the Vichy Community, Bernice James. Bernice and her husband, Paul ran a Mom and Pop store for years. I feel sad my children were not able to grow up knowing this type of establishment, the friendly, caring atmosphere and visiting with neighbors and customers. Chad and Todd were old enough to remember a lot of the visits there but Paul and Bernice sold the store when April was small so she was not able to experience the comrade of a family business. It seemed like a social occasion when going to the store. And as a stay at home Mom, it was a lot of my "social outings". It was a sad occasion, but nice to visit with the James' children as they live far away and we do not see them often. It was good to catch up on each of our lives and visit with the many people of the Vichy Community out to pay their respects.

Saturday: The day started off nice. Dwayne, April and I watched an action packed movie about crocodiles. If any of you have watched Jaws, that was tame compared to the gore of this movie. Not actually my type of movie,but I enjoyed watching it. (Even though I covered my face with a pillow for many of the scenes). In the afternoon I decided to work in the yard. I started out by cleaning out flower beds. I love to pull out dead leaves and use my hands to clean the beds. My sister, Kate always reminds me to wear gloves as I run across spiders and even the occasional scorpion. I thought of this as I used my bare hands but thought, oh, well I won't run across any. I did see one spider but I pulled off my sandal and killed it and I saw a small scorpion under one of the rocks. Well I was scooting around on the grass (that needed cut) as I went down the row cleaning the flower bed and all of a sudden I felt a sharp sting on my leg. Didn't think too much about it even though it hurt. Finished up the row and as I got up I felt another sharp sting lower on my leg. I noticed a couple of red spots but thought maybe a spider vein had popped as I had heard that could hurt quite a bit. Not to be deterred, I went on to mow the grass. The pain was still there but I thought I was being a wimp and finished mowing. After I took my shower the pain continued. I then when to Kate's and we watched a movie, Men Say Yes. I usually don't get cold too easily anymore but I started chilling and my leg started throbbing and feeling a little numb and heavy up my thigh. Kate propped my leg up and I finished watching the movie, feeling a little worse as time went on. After the movie, I went home and told Dwayne I thought we should go to the dreaded Emergency Room. Luckily, we were in and out within an hour and a half. We still aren't sure if they were spider bites or the scorpion I saw. The doctor looked at the marks that had now swelled approx. one inch around each spot and was very tender to the touch. He said it sounded like scorpion stings as the scorpion soreness usually runs up the extremity of the limb and as my numbness and heavy sensation had traveled up almost to my upper thigh, he was sure that was what it was. He said it may make me sick and even affect me neurologically for a short time. (But according to my family, I'm a little goofy anyway so what else was new! They just love me!! Ha!) They gave me pain medicine and steroids. If you have ever taken steroids, the first couple days they keep you awake and wired to the max!!

Sunday: At 6 a.m. Sunday morning, I was still WIDE awake!! Not to mention that the whole leg started itching tremendously through the night, so much so I thought I was going to scratch my leg raw!! Luckily, I fell asleep around 6:30 a.m. and slept until around 1:30 p.m. So much for going to church, I slept through the time line! I felt great when I woke up. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing around the house. Read a book, fixed supper for the kids. We have now made Sunday evening family supper night. If the kids can come over, fine, if they have plans, that's okay, too. It's open for whatever time they can get there. We had homemade chicken and noodles, creamed peas, corn and Dwayne made wonderful chocolate chip cookies.
Todd, April and Mike, Dwayne and I ate around 6 p.m. Chad and Desiree were riding horses so they showed up around 7:30 (on horses, go figure for Chad, a normal routine). It was a nice evening visiting with the kids and enjoying being together.

What more can you expect from life than family and togetherness, I am very grateful for the time spent with my family.