I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Anne Marie's Christmas Home Tour, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

 I am so happy you decided to stop by my Christmas Blog!!

 I want to mention that since Blogger changed to a new format for posting, if you can click on each picture if you care to enlarge it...... 
 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!
 
I have a special treat for you today......

I am sharing my dear friend Anne Marie's home decorated for Christmas.....

Even though we were unable to visit each other this Holiday Season, she was gracious enough to send me pictures so I could still do my annual post of her Christmas Home Tour!!

Anne Marie went in a different direction with her decorations this year and created a truly Vintage Christmas in her home....
 
 
Hugs,
 
Deb

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

How 20 Years of Chronic Health Issues Helped Me Through the Pandemic

 

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
 I want to mention that since Blogger changed to a new format for posting, if you can click on each picture if you care to enlarge it......

  I know this has been an terrible year for so many people......

Many people have lost their jobs, loved ones, their homes, their physical and mental health and their way of life.....

Some feel they have lost their freedom....freedom to go where they want to go and their choice to do so.....

Some feel they have been cheated....

Some feel this is the worse year of their lives....

I am NOT one of those people.....

We are all in the same storm but we are all not in the same boat.... 


 For me, It's Sprinkling.....

For many of you, your way of life ended rather abruptly.....

For me, my way of life started to change over 20 years ago when health issues reared their ugly heads.....

Over 20 years ago, I started have major GI issues which lead to gall bladder removal surgery which should have helped but it only caused more issues......

Because I had a Necrotic or "dead" gall bladder, that made me susceptible to what is called Post Gall Bladder syndrome.....

Putting it rather bluntly and not so delicately, after eating a meal, I had to be within 30 minutes of a bathroom.....

Another name for Post Gall Bladder syndrome is "Dumping" syndrome.....

 

Yes, you got it.....massive diarrhea after eating.....

Normal laxatives do not control it and neither does diet.....

Because it is call Bile Salt diarrhea.... 

after your gall bladder is removed, bile is "Dumped" directly into the intestines and in some cases, acts like a laxative....

Ironically, certain cholesterol medication helps as it binds with the bile lessening it's laxative effect........

But does not get rid of the issue.....

That was when I realized that I was no longer able to eat out in restaurants or even travel anywhere, without knowing where a bathroom would be, comfortably.........

So at that point in time, we stopped going on vacations and eating in restaurants and started to order take home so we could eat in the privacy of our own home.....

My Gall Bladder surgery then lead to another medical issue....

I developed what they originally thought was one ventral hernia from the gall bladder surgery because of lifting patients as I worked as a Rehab Nurse........

After suffering bouts of abdominal pain and vomiting, fearing that I would have to have surgery on an emergency basis, I elected to have hernia repair surgery.....

Well, it turned out that I had 4 abdominal hernias and ended up with a mess system inserted to more or less hold me together and an 8 inch incision......

I thought this might ease my GI issues......

Wrong again.....

I was then diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, an auto immune disease...


So essentially, I have not been able to eat out in restaurants or gone on vacation in over 20 years.....

I had to change my life style to accommodate my health issues.....

I learned to not eat at all before going anywhere......

Even if we were not going out until the evening, I do not eat......

So you see, I do not miss being able to go out to dinner with family and friends or go on vacation because I elected to stop doing that a long time ago......


 Did it bother me???

Not in the slightest!!

Luckily, we live where we do because we are surrounded by all types of restaurants and eateries that offer Take Out and if they didn't before this Pandemic, they sure as heck do now......

I truly enjoy being able to eat food from a restaurant in my own home and not having to hear every Tom, Dick and Harry's conversation because of crowded seating, not having to wait for the meal to be served or the check to be brought to us and also not having to put up with unruly children whose parents let them run wild......

These were always my pet peeves about going to a restaurant.... 

And I have NO desire to Travel....

Been there, done that when the boys were young and that is when I felt it was important to travel, creating wonderful memories for my sons....


And to travel now with just Joe......

OMG!!!!!

That would be a nightmare as we do not like any of the same things....

I would want to go to historical places and museums and he would be bored to death and we would then be fighting all the time....more so than we do already!!!

Right now being retired is like being on a permanent Stacation for me!!!!


As the years went by, I then started to have pain in my knee which was making it very painful to walk.....

I was diagnosed over 8 years ago with severe osteoarthritis in my right knee with almost no cartilage  left in the joint......

Bone on bone and needing a joint replacement.....

I decided I was going to put off my surgery as long as I possibly could and try to have it right before I retired at 62 years old.....

As time went on, the cortisone shots that I was taking every 4 months were not lasting as long as previously and walking became very painful......

Again, I had to change my life style and stop going anywhere which required walking for any type of distance....

I could not even go shopping where I would be on my feet for more than a half hour continuously.....

You can see that because of this, I was forced to stay home as much as possible.....

Because of all of these health issues, I poured myself into creating a home that I would not want to leave......

A home that I viewed as my haven, my sanctuary, a place where I would be so content and happy in that rI would not miss being able to leave it......

That was when I made my home into what I call my own Victorian Bed and Breakfast....


If I could not travel then I wanted to be able to live in a place that I would want to stay in if I could travel.....

Other than going to work, I was pretty much not leaving our home.....

Again, luckily I live where I do and have The Mohegan Sun Arena 5 minutes down the road from us...

Joe and I looked at that as a blessing and that we would be stupid not to take advantage of seeing any entertainment that came into the Arena......

We are also lucky to have the F. M.Kirby Center for the Performing Arts only 10 minutes away from us so we started to see shows and concerts there......

During this time, this is what I learned......

Then in February of 2019, my Life Changed in an Instant.......

I was having such pain upon walking that I was scheduled for a Dr.'s appointment to see if fluid could be aspirated from my knee.... 

The surgeon was unable to do so....

That meant that my knee had deteriorated to a condition where I needed the knee replacement surgery soon and that I was not going to get any relief from the pain and pressure until I had the surgery......

That also meant that I could barely walk without limping and experiencing pain.....

That also meant that since I could barely walk, how could I possibly continue to work?????

Simple.....

I was no longer physically able to work.........

Life changes in an Instant......

 
 In my case, it was an hour and a half.......

In that hour and a half.......

I had an unsuccessful aspiration of my right knee.....

I had a note stating that I was not able to work because knee pain until impending knee replacement surgery

Had a battery of  Xrays done

Scheduled a date for my surgery

 
 Scheduled appointments for Joint Class, Anesthesia consult, History, Physical and examination and blood work and other testing.....

That was the last day that I worked.....

For most of 2019, I had mobility issues first because of the need for surgery and then because of the surgery and recovery period.....

So for almost 9 months or so, I was home bound with only going to Dr.'s appointment and outpatient physical therapy.....

I know many of you feel that this year, 2020, has been the worst year of your life.....

And rightfully so but for me, 2019 was one of the worst years of my life.....

I will not go into the details of losing my job, my mobility, a family member and also possibly losing the chance to become a grandparent....

You can read about it HERE......


I started 2020 with renewed energy and hope and chose POSITIVITY as my theme for the year as 2019 was filled with so much Negativity for me!!


I decided not to choose a Word of the Year and went with choosing a Word for each month which I must say did help me maintain my positivity through out this year.....

I officially Retired at the end of January when I turned 62 years old even though I resigned from my job in August of 2019.....


I was finally free to do what I wanted, when I wanted and to catch up on my 2-3 Year To Do List.....

I posted this at the beginning of 2020 and I feel that it held true for the entire year for me....

I, personally, have not had much in my life change since the pandemic started......

I am a Home Body and for the first year since I stopped working and retired, I truly was only leaving my house about once or twice a week......

Before Retirement, I hated my job so much that I used to try to dream up what crime I could commit so I would get a sentence of House Arrest!!

Now I was finally living my Dream!!!

I would have spent 2020 pretty much doing exactly what I did do and that was staying home and enjoying the Haven that I created for myself.....

I had already given up traveling, eating in restaurants and as part of our Early Retirement plan, I had greatly curtailed any shopping I was doing..... 

I had no problem whatsoever staying home and away from people.....

I worked for over 41 years in a profession where I dealt with people at their worst.....

When they were ill....

So I had no problem not being around people.....

In fact, I truly needed a break from dealing with people.....

I still feel that way because of seeing all the negativity and ranting that goes on on social media about anything and everything and I feel sorry for these people who are apparently so miserable that they constantly have to complain.....

 

I have not been bored......

In fact, I have been so busy that I don't know how I did everything that I did and worked too.....

I have embraced this year as a time to recharge, reflect and make decisions about how I want to live out the remainder of my life.....

There have been many BLESSINGS this year too and I choose to focus on them....

 

 I feel like the last 20 years of my life has prepared me for 2020.....

I guess you can say that I had already adjusted my life style to deal with this year.....

Who knew?????

I know so many of you were not ready for that change of life style.....

BUT life is all about how you chose to live it.....

Do you choose to be negative, angry and resentful?????

 

 Or do you chose to see things as an opportunity to seriously look at your life and decide what is really important????

And remember....

Just because the calendar year is about to change, that does not mean that everything will miraculously return to "Normal" 

 

Whatever " Normal" was.....

Personally, I think the "normal" that most Americans were living was not working....

We were an incredibly "Busy" society but what were we "busy" doing.....

Living at a super fast pace, running here and there and doing this and that.....

I think we needed to Stop


 And hit that Pause bottom......


 And truly take a look at how we were living.....

Maybe we all need to create a new "Normal" for ourselves and instead of complaining about 2020, make 2021 an adventure in creating a better life for ourselves and those we love and care about no matter what is happening in this world.....

 

 I think this was a GOOD year for children.....

A year of learning a lesson about Life....

For the last few generations now, we have been raising a population of people who were used to getting what they wanted, when they wanted it and when they became adults, they were not equipped to handle Life...

Because you do not always get what you want in Life!!!!


 Life, in general, is HARD!!

I hope that the children of this Pandemic, and some adults too, will learn to NOT take things for granted....

Like spending TIME with their Families.....

Their Friends....

And not put so much importance on material things.....

We had become a ME ME ME society and I truly hope that this turns around and people are less selfish....

You can dwell on the Bad of this year and remain "stuck" where you are or you can embrace the Good of this year and move forward.....

I decided that I will not be doing a Word of the Month this year but I will be selecting a Theme and going back to choosing One Little Word for 2021....

And I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Christmas Traditions, Churches, Tablescapes and More Decorations and Crafts, 2020

 

 

 

 



Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

 I am so happy you decided to stop by my Christmas Blog!!

 I want to mention that since Blogger changed to a new format for posting, if you can click on each picture if you care to enlarge it...... 
 
 Every room in our townhouse has a different Christmas Theme and Color Scheme!!
 
 I prove that you do not have to live in a large home to have several Trees, over 20, in all shapes and sizes!!

The majority of my Christmas decorations are placed in the same room every year and I know that this is not what most Decorator's care for but to me, it like seeing old friends again when I decorate each year for Christmas as many of my decorations were gifts from family and friends........... 

I do try to add a few new things and change up things a bit but for the most part, these decorations are part of my Christmas Traditions and bring back a lot of treasured memories.....


Well, Christmas is over and for us, we were BLESSED to have been able to celebrate it like we have always celebrated it regardless of the pandemic.....

My Word of the Month for December has been Blessed.......

 

 Click HERE if you missed that post.....

Sadly, on 12/22, Joe's Mother's long battle with Alzheimer's ended and now she is in peace and not suffering anymore.....

 

 Click HERE if you missed that post......

Our family has many wonderful memories of Eleanore and she was a very loving and caring Grandmother to my sons......

We were BLESSED to have had her in our lives.....

But just as with this Pandemic, Christmas will not be cancelled......

Life goes on.....

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL BLOG POST OVER ON MY CHRISTMAS BLOG, A DEBBIE-DABBLE CHRISTMAS!!

Hugs,

Deb

 

Saturday, December 26, 2020

With Great Sadness........

 

On December 22, Joe's Mother's suffering finally ended and now she is at peace......

She passed peacefully in the care of Home Hospice as the result of End Stage Alzheimer's Disease....
 

OBITUARY:
 
Eleanore G. Barna, 87, of Freeland passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family at her home Tuesday afternoon.
Born in Jeddo, Nov. 4, 1933, she was the daughter of the late John and Rose (Pavelski) Wasielowski.
She was a member of the former St. Casimir's Church, where she was a Eucharistic minister and one of the main cooks for church bazaars. She was presently a member of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Parish at St. Ann's Church, Freeland.
Before retiring she was a floor lady for Tunsol, Weatherly, and a production associate for RCA, Mountain Top.
Eleanore loved spending time with her grandkids, playing bingo, cooking and dancing.
Preceding her in death, in addition to her parents, was her daughter, Barbara Gavinski; brothers, John Jr., Edward and Frank; sisters, Mrs. Kathleen Mingione; Jennie Stefanisko; and twin sister, Theresa Lesko.
She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.
Surviving are her husband of 67 years, Joseph, whom she married in 1953; daughter, Deborah Ryan-Jeddo; son, Joseph John Barna, Wilkes-Barre; grandchildren, Jennifer, Jessica and Jackie Ryan; Kelly Schultz; Joseph and Jimmy Barna; great-grandchildren, Brianna Senape; Alexis Hoffman; Billy Rice; Jayde and Kayla Yagalla; Mikayla Schultz; Jase and Grace Wenner; and great-great-grandson, Owen Senape. Many nieces and nephews also survive.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Parish at St. Ann's Church, 898 Centre St., Freeland.
Friends may call the church from 9 to 10 a.m.
Burial will follow in St. Casimir's Cemetery, Freeland.
McNulty Funeral Home, 494 E. Butler Drive, Freeland, is in charge of arrangements.
 
 
 
Due to a lack of adherence to CDC Co Vid precautions viewed on a video of a Mass at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Parish at St. Ann's Church where some were not wearing masks, not praticing social distancing of 6 feet apart especially while sitting in the pews and going to Communion which was held during Mass and not at the end of Mass, Joe and I will not be attending the Funeral Mass.....


 
 
 Unfortunately, a decision was made NOT to Live Stream the Funeral Mass on Face book or You Tube like so many other churches in our area is doing for those that do not feel safe to attend the Mass during this Pandemic or are physically unable to do so....
 
Therefore, A fund has been set up at Saint Maria Goretti Parish, Laflin, Pa. to purchase a leaf on the Tree of Life so Joe's Mother, Eleanore, will be remembered at each and every Mass said in our church.
 
 Memorial Donations can be sent in care of Tree of Life /Eleanore Barna, Saint Maria Goretti Church, 42 Redwood Drive, Wilkes Barre, Pa. 18702
 
 Eleanore's Leaf will be placed next to my parent's leaves....
 
A Memorial Mass will be held in the future at Saint Maria Goretti...
 
We thank everyone for the heart felt condolences that we received on Face book and privately.....

Joe's Mother was always very caring and loving and we all are very grateful to have had her in our lives......
 
 

UPDATE: Since I am being accused of lying, I feel that I need to set the record straight......

Our family has been estranged from my In Laws for many years, a fact that I have mentioned numerous times on my face book page, being totally honest about it.

These pictures are from over 6 years ago when Joe first started to notice changes in his Mother's mental health and his concerns about it fell on his father's deaf ears....

In the 42 years that we have been married,  we have NEVER asked for one single penny from Joe's parents and neither have our sons.

Joe and I have always supported ourselves and worked very hard for what we have and we have instilled those values in our sons who have earned their own money since the age of 15 and have never needed to ask us for any money......

Even now, Joe and I do not want or need anything from his family whether it be financially or anything else

In fact, several years ago, Joe asked to be taken off of his parent's will as he wanted no part of it
 
Yes, we will be buying a leaf for Joe's Mother on the Tree of Life at our church which costs $500 which we will be paying for along with a generous donation from my son Jim and his wife Danielle, even after a terrible statement was made about him by his own Grandfather, for which we will never forgive him  for, and other donations will go directly to the church

We had promised to do this many years ago for Joe's Mother when she saw my parent's leaves on the Tree of Life and was impressed by them.
 
We are keeping a promise made to her many years ago....

And if certain family members think that I am afraid to print the truth, I am known for being blatantly honest so I will easily print the truth about why there is an estrangement...

We have nothing to hide....

And if you think that what you say is of any importance to us, you are sadly mistaken...

Do NOT tempt me!

You have no idea who you are dealing with and what I am capable of doing....

 
 
 

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Word of the Month for December...BLESSED

 

   Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
 I want to mention that since Blogger changed to a new format for posting, if you can click on each picture if you care to enlarge it...... 
 
 
I am finally sharing what my Word of the Month for December has been.....

I know it is almost the end of December.......
 
 POSITIVITY is what I chose as my Theme for this Year......
 
 
 
Little did I know how important it would be to remain POSITIVE this Year!!!!

I am choosing to maintain this theme by only posting positive things here on my Blog and also on my face book page.....
 
 
  I continue choose to post Positivity on this Blog and especially out there on social media like face book,over all the Political Rants, Mask Pro and Cons Rants, Naming Calling and Making Fun of Political Leaders no matter what Political Party they belong to, sharing of Fake News without checking the actual facts before posting and bashing of Businesses even though those businesses may be barely surviving!!!

 I choose to take the higher road, rising above all that nonsense and frankly, childishness, and not feed into and spread the anger and hate!!

I have had enough......

I am CHOOSING to scroll through and not read any of these posts.....
 
 
 I choose POSITIVITY!!
 
And yes, at times it has been hard to remain POSITIVE......
 
But I think I have to to maintain my sanity.....
 
GRATEFUL was my Word of the Month for November.....
 

Pretty much a No Brainer with Thanksgiving in the United States falling at the end of November..
 
And there were many things that I am GRATEFUL for...

One of those things was that after 13 years, I remain cancer free, having done a urine test to test for cancer cells which came back negative.....

Once again, I have been given the gift of Time.......

Since Christmas is almost here, I am going to move right on to what my Word of the Month for December is......

 
 Yep!!
 
My Word of the Month for December is BLESSED....... 

So what does that actually mean......

"If you say you've been BLESSED, you feel lucky to have something like a roof over your head, your health, a family, etc......"

In light of everything that has been going on this year, I feel BLESSED that all of my family is still alive and well......

Comparing that to so many in this country and world who have lost family members to this pandemic......

I remain GRATEFUL

And I feel BLESSED!!!!!

If there is anything that this year has shown people.....

It is this.......

I am truly BLESSED with everything I need.....

And I really appreciate everything I have....

I have my family close by and we never had to give up or change any of our Holiday traditions during this year......

And Christmas will be celebrated the same as it has been for years.....

With the exception of the addition of our new Grand Puppy!!!

This little girl will be visiting us for the Holidays .......

She had her first visit to the Vet and has another appointment with the Groomer before Christmas......

Little Faye has truly BLESSED our lives.......

Many of the Christmas Traditions that I still carry on came from my parents.....

My sister bought one of these framed sayings for each of us the first Christmas after my Mother passed away with the picture on the left being the photo I had in this frame for 16 years.....

It was the last picture taken of her before she died.....


This year, I decided that I was going to replace that picture with one of BOTH my parents together as I truly believe that they are still together.......


 This picture was taken quite some time ago as my Dad passed away almost 34 years ago so when I printed it out , I decided to make it black and white since the colors were faded and yellowed....


I had the experience of having absolutely wonderful Christmases as a child that were full of traditions involving my Polish ancestry.....

And because of that, I am BLESSED with wonderful heart warming memories.....

I have thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas Season as I finished my decorating before Thanksgiving like I always wanted to....

That gave me time to enjoy watching Christmas Movies, listening to Christmas music and baking......


I made double batches because Joe bought so many bags of chocolate, peanut butter and white chocolate chips......

He likes a little bit of baked goods with his candy...

I usually give Jim, Danielle and Joey one of those Rubbermaid containers full of cookies and fudge on Christmas Eve....

I always wish for a White Christmas and even though our temps are supposed to warm up into the 50's on Christmas Eve before they dive back into the 20's for Christmas Day.....

I am sure that we will still have a White Christmas after all the snow we got last week......





And for that.........

I am BLESSED BEYOND IMAGINATION!!!!!

I have been enjoying my retirement this year......

I have gotten to garden, craft, and "Play" in my home without having to worry about going to work.....

Which is what I have looked forward to doing for many years......

And for that I feel very BLESSED!!!!!!!


I have been asked why I still decorated for Christmas this year to the extent that I usually do even though I knew I would not be having all the company that I usually have who come to tour our home at Christmas....
 
I think my Blogger Friend Jeanie, over at The Marmelade Gypsy,  summed it up much better than I could......
 
This is what she wrote......
 
"I thought (for about 30 seconds) about phasing back this year for many reasons, mostly medical. Then I said, aloud, to myself: "What are you thinking? If this was to be your last Christmas on Earth, would you have wanted to spend it in a house where you didn't do the thing you loved?" 
 
You are absolutely right, Jeanie!!!!
 
You can read Jeanie's post HERE and see how beautifully she decorated her home and quite a few trees!!!!
 
And with that, I will end this post.......
 
I want to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
 
 
 
I know some of you may be spending Christmas differently than you have in years past but I truly hope that you will still enjoy the Holiday and celebrate it for the joyous occasion that it truly is.....  

 
And maybe use it as a time to change or make some new traditions for you and your family.....
 
One thing that I am looking forward to is, after having to miss many Christmas Masses because of my work schedule which had me working either the night of Christmas Eve or the night of Christmas Day with never having the entire Holiday off, is that because of the Pandemic, I will get to watch Christmas Eve Masses online, not only in my own church but in the churches of all our former parish priests and even in my parent's hometown and other local towns...........

And for the opportunity to be able to do this and see the beautiful Christmas decorations in these Churches, I feel very BLESSED and very GRATEFUL....
 
 These are pictures I took of one local church's Mass this weekend, while watching it online ,of the Christmas Decorations in their church.....



I can not wait to see their Christmas Mass with all of this lit up!!!!

Soon, I will be posting my dear friend Anne Marie's Christmas Home Tour as she will be sending me pictures of her beautiful home decorated for Christmas since we have not been able to visit this year....

The post will be over on my Christmas Blog but I will provide a link here as I have with all my other Christmas posts.....
 
So I hope you will stop by to visit again soon and
 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......


I am linking up to these parties:
 
 
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