I actually started to feel better this week. WooHoo! Little by little I seem to be adjusting to the new meds. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep having some small effects from them from now on; but at least the side effects aren't as bad as the last meds I was taking. Too bad, I pulled a muscle in my back one day, and then screwed up the right side of my neck the next day. Here I thought I would be able to go back to work more (and to Kings Island amusement park with Richard and his family); but I'm still laid up at home unable to walk around too much.

While I've been laid up, my family has been driving me to despair. First, my mom was going to come up to visit me; but their plans fell through when her hubby, Dennis, didn't get a commission check in time. So my youngest brother and his wife (Jon and Lisa) called to tell me that THEY were going to come visit. That was, until they found out how much it was going to cost to fly up here by the 4th. Just like mom, they had to cancel their trip too. Boy! I'd rather my family just not call if all they are going to do is get my hopes up and then dash them. LOL Finally, I got another call. My brother and sister-in-law realized that for the money it would cost them to drive up (about 8 to 9 hours each way) that they could fly ME down to see them!!!! WooHoo! Needless to say, that idea was fine with me. Now I'll get to see not only mom, or Jon and Lisa; I get to see EVERYONE! I'm counting the days until my plane leaves July 20. I can't believe that out of the blue, I've got a weekend to enjoy with my family.

Happy 4th of July!

As with alot of the holidays I have spent in Ohio, I shared in the family fun with DO's family.

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	Ritchie showing off his cast
My bestest friend, Jim. There are more pictures of Jim below in the webcam shots.

Webcam Pictures

"Quit playing with your computer, mIkIE, and give me some kisses!" -Joxer

	Summertime in my yard

Summertime in Jim's yard

	Following in our habit of home improvements as a summer project (last summer we screened in my front porch), Jim and I have started cementing his back patio. For years it's just been a cement block floor. This project is turning out to been more labor intensive than we first planned; but one quarter of the patio has been poured and another quarter might get poured later today. With any luck, I'll have pictures of the finished project at the first of next month.
Viewing Jim's pool from inside the screened patio	The first quarter of the patio is poured and drying
Shotokan (Showie) and Tsunami (Namie) watching us humans working hard, with their usual catty disdain.
Half the patio is finished on Wednesday. Next Wednesday (after my trip to NC and Jim's trip to Cleveland) we will try to finish the whole second half of the patio. No less ornery than my boyz, Jim's kitties have shown their sneaky side. See the kitty footprints in the wet cement on the right? There's further concrete evidence in the form of little gray footprints on Jim's white kitchen linoleum.

This has been an awfully busy month for me. I kinda fibbed early this month. The meds have been a lot harder to handle than I thought. At least, now I'm having more good days than bad. The bad thing about that is I still have to remember that I am NOT well. I have to take it easier from now on.

Thanks to a loving gift from my youngest brother and his wife (Jon & Lisa), all the bad that I've been going through with being sick and taking these new meds was offset by all the good I felt by getting the chance to go home for a weekend.

After returning from my trip home, things didn't calm down. I've worked more this week at Waikem's than I have in probably the last four months! Before my trip, I overheard my boss discussing a new direct mailing project. I had a feeling my services would be needed, and sure enough, they were. LOL Like most everyone else getting online, sometimes you just need an instructor to demonstrate the process a few times. I think I was able to set up Gayle (that's the boss' secretary) to be able to do the mailers from now on. If not, she usually knows where to find me. LOL

Jim and I finished up his patio by pouring the other half of the concrete in one day. Friday we put the finishing touches on it. (Lucky for you, the viewer, I won't have those pictures online until next month ROFL)