Bilateral TKR Mickey & Minnie are looking on the bright side!

[Jacky48]

At Easter my grandson asked if he could come over on his school break and we could make homemade raviolis (an old family recipe on Norm's side) for his 17th birthday, which is today. He came over yesterday, and when he did I told him that he would be the one making them and I would just guide and assist, since hand on is the best way to learn! We got started and he looked over at my Ninja mixer on the counter and said, does that Ninja mix pasta dough?, I said yes do you want to use it or do you want to make it the old fashion way and get a feel for the dough?, he tought a moment and said he'd like to try it the old way so he could get the feel for the dough, so off we went! Smart boy! Lucky me for having a 17 year old grandson want to spend the day with his grand ma and learn how to make something on his school day off! We started at 11am and finished at 3pm, and netted 125 raviolis! Here are some pictures of my wonderful grandson Spencer! Oh yeah, and another great part of this is that my knees did not bother me a bit!

 

[karmigirl]

Jacky, What a wonderful day you must have had. And a very handsome grandson to boot.
It really warms the heart when the young ones want to learn. I've had that same experience with my nephew and it was soooo special.

 

[Jacky48]

karmigirl yes Rose, it was a wonderful day! He did a great job! I love the picture where he is mixing the meat mixture and I caught him a little camera shy and he gave me that sweet smile! Some young lady is going to get a great catch when she lands this guy, he is so sweet and sensitive, just like his dad! Lucky me to have them both in my life! I'm sure you enjoyed your experience with you nephew, it is a great feeling isn't it!

I hope you're doing well my friend!

 

[robynhood]

Jacky i just LOVE the pictures especially you and your grandson together. Its lovely when the younger generation want to spend some time with us oldies. It makes us feel younger. Thanks for sharing x

 

[Jacky48]

robynhood Thanks Pat, that younger man certainly did make me feel special! He just needs to stop growing, pretty soon I'm going to need a ladder to hug him! He's taller than his dad(my son) and his two older stepbrothers already, and he mom barely reaches his chest height!

 

[Mimi]

What a wonderful day you had with your grandson! He is so handsome and he cooks too!

My oldest grandson and I made cookies together last year when he was 3. It was so much fun and he was so funny. He needed a step stool to put the ingredients in and mix them. Then I showed him how to roll them in balls and his hands got sticky and he lost interest till they were clean. He loved putting the hash marks on them though and told me to speed up making the balls so he could squash them with the fork (peanutbutter cookies). Ahh the joys of being grandma at any age! Even better the joys of activities without pain!!

 

[Jacky48]

Mimi That is so sweet, with your grandson wanting you to hurry so he could squash the cookies! Great memories!
My grandson was not pleased with the mixing of the meat mixture, but I said, sweetie that's all part of it and besides you'll be able to train your dad on how to make these now! He smiled and said, YEAH HUH!, a male thing! I love being a grandma too! Pain free is a biggie!

 

[RICBAK1]

Your making us jealous we love our grandkids,and my wife likes baking with them Gabe is 7 and he dwarfs his sister who is nearly 9 i have told him few more years and he can carry grandad ,but Rosie is in charge and can make him do what she wants typical girl.We are jealous because they live to far away but we go to look after them once every 6 weeks not long now,and after that trip we will come back and hopefully go back down south with caravan to be near for summer.P.S our Gabe likes eating the raw cake mix best.

 

[Jacky48]

RICBAK1 No need to be jealous Rich I'm sure you and your wife make lots of great memories with your grand kids! We don't get to see our grand kids very often. Our grandson is 17 now and he pretty much has a life of his own, however I was more than delighted when he wanted to spend the day with me. We do get to spend holidays with him and the rest of our son's family, however our daughter and granddaughters live in Florida and we only get to see them once a year and we miss them very much, but when we get together we make the most of it!

Your grand kids sound like fun and I'll bet you enjoy every minute you spend with them!

 

[Jacky48]

Mimi I forgot to tell you how much I love your new avatar! Awesome!

 

[RICBAK1]

Yes we have got to make the most while they are young,they have to fly the nest, hoping to take them back to florida next year.Oh and the warmth you sent much appreciated but tonight we are back to 5c dont know whats worse saying 5c or 40f its too cold sat here with heating full blast.

 

[Mimi]

Thanks Jackie. I had to get the new little guy in there and I see some are cut off. Just too much for the picture.I see if you click on the picture , then Mimi, the full picture comes up. My granddaughter, the princess, has on her hungry caterpillar tutu!!! It was taken at my middle grandson's first birthday last month. I am holding my son's two boys, and my husband is holding my daughter's two kids. And our youngest daughter, the one that had open heart surgery last summer, has a dog for now! The Dr. told her that she can get pregnant and that it will be high risk even though everything is good and she is running in marathons!

 

[sunshine in nc]

Hi Jacky. I have been looking at that floor with anticipation every since you told how you could get up and down easily. Well I DID IT! I looked like a seal. I slid down off the chair on the floor, got up on my knees, held onto the couch and pulled up. Did not feel the best, but it did not hurt, and it sure was not pretty. But at least now I know I can do it.

 

[RICBAK1]

Good for you,in the garden i use a kneeler to help get up its like having a couch outside.

 

[Jacky48]

Mimi I did get to see the whole picture, awesome grand kids and hubby's not too bad either! Wow, your younger daughter went through open heart surgery last year?, that had to be scary for the whole family, no wonder your neck started acting up, with the stress and all! Thank god she's doing okay, actually more than good, running in a marathon!

sunshine in nc I know what you mean about getting on the floor and back up not being pretty, but now we know its doable! I've tried it with a pillow on the floor and kneeling on it then sitting down, and the pillow made it easier getting back up, not as awkward! I guess it's all trial and erroe with this stuff! Congrats for getting down there kiddo!

RICBAK1 Rich, your weather pattern is as crazy as ours is lately! The good thing for us is that we got our package for our Alaskan cruise and rail tour in May, and we printed our ship boarding pass, so we have a bright light to look forward to! When are you going to Florida?

 

[Mimi]

Jacky, the open heart surgery came on so fast that before we had time to think about it, it was done!! She is 28, healthy and started running a year ago. Soon she was complaining about heartburn after runs and then it got worse and she had problems swallowing. After many tests she found out that she had something that was strangling her esophagus and a right aortic arch (rare cause most have a left arch), but it was not a problem. And there was a "bump" on the aorta!! The esophagus problem and the bump occurred prenatal before 20 weeks!!

She decided to see an aortic specialist at Johns Hopkins who was fantastic and he operated with a thoracic specialist . What incredible doctors and hospital. I can not say enough about that experience. The surgery went well and her care in intensive care was beyond anything I have ever seen. She was up the next day and her care was wonderful. They found the bump to be an anurism that was 2 cm and he said that at 3 cm they rupture and kill you!! The esophagus was being strangled by a ligament that has attached under her arm. If it went unrepaired it to would have killed her. He said she was lucky to have not been pregnant cause it too would have been fatal. She has always been healthy and an athlete and this would have not been noticed if she had not taken up running!! They repaired it all and entered her heart through her back under her shoulder and deflated her lung. She has a large scar that I call her "wing" . She healed well and holds the record for coming home after open heart surgery. She had surgery on Thurs. morning and came home on Monday at noon, on Labor day. She walked a block every 3 hours and worked up to a mile a day in a week!! She is my hero

 

[Mimi]

Hope these come out. The first is baby Kai at Easter, then Aimee 2 hours after surgery. The thing in her neck is the "fail safe" in case there was a bleed out during surgery. The prep for her surgery took one and a half hours! That went straight to the artery for blood. We were thankful that she never had to use it. The last picture is all the girls a year ago at Christmas.

 

[Brownie51]

Jacky your Spencer is so cute and that's fabulous you made raviolis together. Nice kitchen!
Mimi that is a scary story. Love the easter-baby! So glad everything worked out okay for Aimee.

 

[Jacky48]

Mimi Awesome pictures Mimi! Now that's and Easter basket if you ask me, so adorable!

Your daughter is one lucky lady, with the helpful hand of her surgeons! I would call her scar a wing too! I'm so glad she had a great team to help her through all that and a very loving family! It still scares a family to death thought, I can't even fathom the thought of one of my children or grandchildren going though something so life effecting! Bless you all!

Brownie51 Thanks Marianne, I think Spencer is a cutie too, of course I am prejudice on that one , he's very sensitive too so he'll be quite a catch for some young lady out there! He's the one that want to go into the medical field as a researcher, and he has the grades to carry him through too!

I like my new kitchen, thank you, we had our house built the way we wanted it a couple of years ago and this is my dream kitchen with lots of cabinets and a huge island to work on!

 

[RICBAK1]

Jacky hoping to all go to Orlando about May or early June 2014 have to be back in Yorkshire for July 5 The Tour is in Yorkshire for 2 days my wife has promised me i can go even our daughter is arranging baby sitters so we can stay in Yorkshire while race is here.Our daughter has a friend who owns a couple of villas on Calabay Parc we will see about hiring one ,this year is caravan for us have grandkids for school holidays and hoping to maybe go to Spain in September.My wife is hoping to teach me to ballroom dance by then she goes 3 times a week with friends and hotel has dancing at night i am afraid she is on a loser with this cant dance and music is to slow i prefer electronic or head banging music,might have to have other knee done to get out of this.