Surgery Again?

Hello, Everybody!



Sharon will be so glad when we can talk about things other than her health. She is very much looking forward to tomorrow. She is going to have back surgery. If you wish to see the type of surgery she is scheduled to have, just click on the link below:


http://www.elpasospinecenter.com/Pages/Axialif.html



It looks like a fascinating surgery. This is an animated surgery that explains the procedure for lay people. Maybe in her next life she can come back as an orthopedic surgeon.



Although Ellen is having her own health issues, we are taking all of this one day at a time.




Sharon's new knuckle is working just fine. Her new shoulder is working beautifully, and she can't wait for her back to stop hurting. One thing she has learned is that if your parts quit working, just replace them! You youngsters take good care of your health. Please pray for her and her doctors. Thank you.




Last weekend for Easter Sunday, we had a lovely brunch at the Lancer's Club. Then, after a short nap, we went to Scott and Margaret's home. We had a great time with all of the Negrete relatives. The age range was from two years to 79 years of age. It is really neat to have such a loving family with so many cousins. We didn't eat anything because we were still full from the Lancer's Club!



We will keep you posted on how Sharon does. Since we are both on Facebook, it seems that we don't write on our blog as we used to. We miss blogging and having our friends follow the blog, too. We may be part of the "over 60" crowd, but we like to keep up with technology!



Until next time. . . . .

Spring Break 2010 !

Hello, Everybody!


It seems like that time is just flying by, doesn't it? We thought we would use this column as a catch up since the last post.


Sharon's new knuckle is healing very nicely, and very quickly. In fact, if you didn't know, you would never think that she had surgery.


Yesterday, she had the epidural block in her back at the L5 and S1 disc sites. She is already tons better. It is amazing that doctors know right where to put that needle.


Ellen's spring break is almost over. We didn't do anything this year as far as going out of town. We were on a very relaxed schedule. Ellen got a lot of cleaning done, and Sharon got a lot of pain relieved! Hooray for good doctors! Now she is ready to focus on something else besides pain. She is anxious to get back to riding her bicycle ten miles daily. She has really missed that.


Ellen is anxious to get the spring yard work done. She is definitely ready for the growing season. It is time to plant flowers and get the fountain in the backyard flowing again.

A new elementary school is opening next week. Approximately 150 students that have been at Polk will be leaving. We hate to see the teachers and their students go, but with the move, Polk will be at 600 students. That isn't exactly small, but it is better than 750!

We are off to attend the wedding of the daughter of one of our teachers. It should be fun. It is being held at the International Museum of Art. What a nice way to spend the last Saturday of Spring Break!

Until next time. . . . .

January,February, And Now MARCH! (Gasp)

Hello, Everybody!

It seems like this year is just zipping right on by! In January, Ellen celebrated her birthday! Here is picture of her cake.

The birthday girl is about to cut the cake.

Below is a picture of the glass sculpture at the Spencer Theater in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It is truly beautiful.

We had a relaxing weekend while in Ruidoso. The main reason for the trip was to see Camelot at the Spencer Theater.

It was a great production. The touring company was staying at The Lodge At Sierra Blanca, which is where we always stay. So we were truly living in the Land of Camelot! By the way, when we checked into the hotel, the assistant manager checked us in. Upon entering the room, we couldn't help but remark that "it" had happened again. Yep, we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite! We had a beautiful view of Sierra Blanca covered in snow. We are not sure why, or how that happened, but we enjoyed it!

Yesterday was surgery day for Sharon. She, too, had a birthday already this year. Last year her birthday was a week after her shoulder replacement. Not wanting to spend another birthday just after going under the knife, it was scheduled for March 1st. The knuckle at the base of her right index finger was replaced. It is amazing what can be done these days! She was back home by 10:30! All went well.

When you look at her hand from this view, it looks like she has on a boxing glove! It will stay this way until Thursday. She goes to the doctor in the morning, and he will remove all the dressings.

It is a good thing that Sharon is ambidextrous! It is her right hand that was operated on, but she can do everything with her left hand as well.

So, 2010 has begun. We are now into March and are hoping that life remains relatively calm.

December-January! Where Has The Time Gone?

Hello, Everybody!





It just doesn't seem possible that so much time has passed since we did our last post! Sharon decided to finally look at all of the pictures from December and January, and to choose those that might be appropriate for posting.
Queen of Peace is always decorated beautifully for Christmas. Fr. Trini is the mastermind behind all the decorations.
The nativity scene is from Italy. The previous pastor, Fr. Joe, started the collection and it has been added to ever since.

The photo makes it look rather small, but the figurines are quite large.

The picture below shows what you look like after tasting the delicious wines of Star Canyon Winery right here is El Paso! We had a wonderful time there and hope to be able to go again very soon.

Scott and Steve are putting together a popcorn maker. Ellen was happy when she saw Scott get out the tool kit she had given him, probably ten or twelve years ago!

Concha is the best cook. She fixed the Christmas dinner, which is no small task. There were 25 of us!

Margaret and Scott's brother are checking out the new popcorn machine.

This is Frank Zona. He is Paula's father-in-law. We all had Christmas Day Dinner at his home. The guys cooked and cleaned. It was wonderful.

The presentation of the food was spectacular.

This was dessert. It was fruit, but it had been soaked with some type of liqueur. Yum, yum!

On Christmas Eve, the Zonas and the Pieplows gathered at the Pieplow home. Paula was in charge of the cooking. She did a fantastic job. Sharon had already cooked the brisket, and Paula added Croque Monsieur Mac and Cheese, and Brie with crackers. You can also see the Six-layer Bars that Ellen made for dessert.

Here's the chef working on the horseradish sauce for the brisket.

Here we see Sharon with her daughter, Paula.

These next few pictures show the Zonas at Christmas Eve. Their daughter is Jaimi who is a college student working toward a degree in nursing.

Here we have Kristi and Jeremy Zona, and Austin Martin, who is Jaimi's significant other. These Zonas live in Phoenix.

You surely recognize Ellen with Jason.

On Martin Luther King Weekend, we headed toward Albuquerque for our annual shopping trek. We stayed at our favorite Residence Inn. The nice thing about this visit was that the hotel had recently completed their renovation. It was truly beautiful. This picture shows the redecorated lounge area. We have a story about our trip here this time.

When we arrived at the Residence Inn, the manager was there. We remembered her from last year. Her name is Bernadette. She even remembered us from last year. Before we knew it, she had upgraded our room to a two bedroom suite! What a treat! We already had a special deal, but when we checked out, we had a special surprise!! Since this is our favorite hotel chain, we accumulate points for each stay. We used our points to pay for two nights, and would split the cost of the third night. On the morning that we were going to check out, the bill was under the door. (As it always is.) When Ellen looked at it, the Balance Due was $0.00. We couldn't believe our eyes!! Not only had we been upgraded to the two bedroom suite, our third night had been comped!

We are lucky ladies, huh? Until next time. . . . . . . . . . . .