Bill Robertson

2009-11-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

so
this morning i am at chloe's with skippy
he's already been out back so there'd better not be any messes in the house
we just got here from on a wing and a prayer
i picked up the life recovery workbook
i had to charge it
i hope faith won't be (too) upset
i tried going on to amazon this morning
i put the girl who kicked the hornet's nest into my shoping cart
i went to check out and it looked as though it was going to bill our charge card rather than applying it toward our gift certificate balance so i got out of there
i desperately need another lisbeth salander fix
the library doesn't have it in yet
i guess i'll just have to wait
boo hiss
i haven't made any phone calls yet
when we go home (which will be soon) i'll call people
cr is tonight
yay
faith is going up to the church tonight to do some stamping and maybe some knitting
i hope the driving won't bother her eyes
she hates to drive at night
well
my basket is empty now so i guess i'll end this
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

damn
i forgot to signout of yahoo
i'm at the somonauk library and unless you signout of yahoo the next person who uses the computer you're on if they go to yahoo is automatically in your mailbox
not good
oh well
i'll just go back to yahoo when i'm through here
hello
the reason i'm here is because faith has a bookclub here tonight
plus
she had an eye appointment this afternoon and had her eyes dilated (?)
she has difficulty driving at night anyway
so i'm here
i picked up 2 books that had come in for me
love is a dog from hell
and
portions from a wine-stained notebook
both by charles bukowski
also a christian 12 step workbook came in for me at on a wing and a prayer but i haven't had time to go get it yet
i'll pick it up tomorrow
after faith's eye appointment in dekalb this afternoon we went to panera and each had a cookie and a small cup of coffee by the fireplace
we read the paper
i read an article about a local marching band and an article about adam lambert and his first album
oh yeah
and a piece about a couple of young actors from new moon the new twilight-based movie
we're doing a special event blood drive at heartland for new moon
each donor will get a special edition t shirt and their name will go into a drawing for movie tickets posters life-size character cutouts jewelry and other new moon-related gifts
we're hoping to draw 100 donors
the blood drive is on the 19th and i think the movie comes out on the 20th
anyway
whatever
i think thats it for now
oh
ray called me today
i hadn't heard from him in like 2 weeks or something
it was nice to hear from him
that's it
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

if this is tuesday morning then this must be panera
there were 4 of us again this morning
everyone but kenny
we didn't bother opening the books
we didn't even take prayer requests
a total blow off morning
this week i work tuesday and wednesday nights
so i have thursday off
last night we had our penultimate step study meeting
it'll be nice to have 2 nights during the week with faith after it's over
i guess the first week after it's over we (jack, jeff and i) will probably go out to eat by way of celebration
maybe
yesterday was busy
chess at woodbury with little nathan and conner from 2:45 to 3:45 then annie from 5 to 6 then step study from 7 to 8
annie and i had a nice session
i told her about my plan to wean myself off of meds and she seemed okay with that
i call dr ripejcki on the 14th to take the next step
i hope it goes as well as the first step did
well
i think you're up to date now
oh
i gave chloe and jeff the couples fireproof package last night
i don't know if they'll use it or not
chloe seemed less than excited
'oh
workbooks
how nice'
very sarcastic
well
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

so
here we are at the somonauk library again
we came so i could pick up a book they were holding for me
the girl who played with fire by stieg larsson
i hope i like it as much as i liked the girl with the dragon tattoo
so
while we're here i make use of one of their 20 computers so i can check email get caught up on blogs that i follow and blog myself
whicch is what i am doing now
the cr meeting last night was smaller than usual
5 of our regular women (not that the rest are in any way irregular) were missing because of retreats and conferences
as a result a lot of the other women decided to stay home
tim was there
he said he'd call me monday morning to get directions so he can come over
we'll see
then today i had to be at work by 8a because we had a breakfast staff meeting
work was pretty much uneventful
i talked to five donors (after 71 calls) and got 1 appointment
oh
well
that's pretty much it except for coming home and having soup and a melted cheese sandwich for lunch
oh
and for letting skippy hang out on my lap for a while
oh
and susan is home from africa
i talked to her yesterday
she had a wonderful time
i told her she should write about her trip
she's a good writer and as sally says she can give people the nitty gritty things to do in what ever country she's visiting
ok
now i'm done
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-05T05:37:00.000-08:00

here i am at chloe's blogging on jordan's laptop
chloe needs me to take jordan to school this morning
she's afraid that drew would get him there too early and he would be playing outside till time to go in
I'm to get him there right at 8 or a little after so he'll go straight inside
i have to pick him up after school too
today is early dismissal so i need to get him at 11
well
i didn't go to work last night
i hadn't taken my effexor for 2 days in a row and i was experiencing an anxiety attack i think
i got to bed real early yesterday too
7:30
i got up this morning and took all of my meds before coming over here
i need to just get in the habit of taking my morning meds as soon as i get up
i never forget my evening meds
i know from experience what happens if i don't take my risperidone
i wake up at 2a tense as all get out and i have trouble going back to sleep
meds are my life
unfortunately
i'm going to be trying to phase them out (with my psychatrist's permission
well
i'd better go now
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

tuesday morning at panera
4 of us met today
chris kenny greg and i
now there's just i
just i
that sounds so awkward
i guess i'll change that to now there's just me
there were just two students for chess class yesterday
they only got 1 game in
conner didn't seem to believe me when i told him that all he could do with just a queen was check he couldn't checkmate
i told him he needed to bring his king into play but he just kept checking
and nathan had been so busy adding up the points of the pieces he'd taken that he lost all of his pieces
oh well
they're very young
last night was so discouraging
ray discovered that neither of the things the dealership told me were wrong with the saturn was actually wrong with it
the right rear brake cylinder wasn't leaking and the right front ball joint wasn't loose
i hate finding out things like that
i'm so trusting
he also told me that i hadn't really needed to have the brake fluid and the power steering fluid replaced
he said he's never done that for any of his cars
ah well
live and learn
i don't think i'll go back to the dealer any more
saturn is out of business anyway
well
i think i'll head home and relax in the recliner with skippy
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-11-02T12:04:00.000-08:00

now we're at the somonauk library and i'm blogging
i just put stieg larsson's book the girl who played with fire on hold
i finished his 1st book the girl with the dragon tattoo this morning and i couldn't wait to get another book by him
sadly i think this will be the last one (unless maybe i hope i hope there is one more) he died in 2004 and both of these books were published in english in 2009
ah well
tim may be asking me to be his sponsor
i don't know why he put it that way
i may be missing step study tonight
i might be going over to ray's house so he can check out my brake cylinders
according to saturn they need replacing and their estimate is $450
hoo boy
faithie always wonders what i blog about
i always assure her it's innocent stuff
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

here i am at barnes and noble in dekalb blogging while faith looks for a book or a puzzle for hannah our neighbor across the hall's little girl
we're missing trick or treaters while we''re here
we'll probably get home when there's just 1 hour of trick or treating left.
we've got skippy with us
he's camped out on a blanket in the passenger's seat of the car while we're in here
he rode up in the back seat but on the way home faith is going to drive and i'll hold him in my lap
tonight will be the 5th night this week i'll have spent at home with Faith
when i got into work thursday night i found out that somehow i was not scheduled to work so i went home
so sunday, tuesday, thursday, friday (cause i stayed home from cr) and saturday
at home
with faith
it was nice
we have nothing planned for tonight
i don't even know what if anything we have planned for dinner
maybe we can have lentils again
i wonder how long it's going to take faith to find a present for hannah
maybe we won't even have an hour of trick or treating left
chloe said this was how it would turn out
oh well
i think i'll go look for a christian 12 step workbook
not to buy
i've got one on order at on a wing and a prayer
but i'd like to see if they have anything
so
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

i went to new jack's house for coffee this morning
i brought some orange-glazed sweetrolls faith had made with me
i was there for over an hour
good coffee and good conversation
when i got home the water guy had already been there and he took our 4 empties and left to full ones in the hall closet
i changed the overhead lightbulb in the bathroom
took me freaking forever
standing on a chair with my balance is no fun at all
neither is un-screwing and re-screwing tiny bolts with a hand that won't stop shaking
my hands don't normally shake
only when i'm doing something that requires a steady hand
like turning a page
or screwing in a lightbulb
for the rest of the morning skippy and i just hung out in the recliner
one of my favorite pastimes
oh
and faith actually let skippy sleep with us last night
he was good
he stayed down by our feet
at 10 till noon i got up and made lentil soup for our lunch
faith got home about noon15 and we ate
she served it
i was back in the recliner with skippy
faith took skippy for a short walk to get him to poop and then we left (with skippy) and drove to the somonauk library
which is where i'm updating this blog from
we have to leave by 2:40
we're in separate cars
she has to go pick up jordan at school
and i have to go play chess in the library at dummer
when i leave there at 4 i have to go to work
i won't get to eat again till i get home at 9:15
not a good time to be eating
oh
the chess lesson at woodbury yesterday afternoon went well
nathon and corbin played each other again
and brandon and i played
oh
well
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

it's tuesday and i'm at panera
there were three of us at the small (very small) group this morning
i think i'll ask bill to come with me next week
and maybe jack
i've checked my email already and read the two blogs I read so now i'm blogging
i've decided that i'm going to suggest to faith that we start praying together again
we could do it every morning and every evening
i think that would be good
i don't have anything on tap for today
I'll go home and do the dishes and take my jeans out of the drier and bring them and my grey pants upstairs
i'll also see if i can find my red sweater and my blue mock turtle
oh
and i'll pick up two poops in the backyard
then i'll sit back in the recliner with skippy on my lap and read
sounds like a plan
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

so
here i am outside chloe's house accessing their wifi in the driveway
we had a good weekend
i went to cr friday night and that was great as usual
saturday after work i think it was just a lazy day
i remember faith wanted to go to a movie
but
we didn't
sunday we went to church
i got cds of both last weeks and this weeks sermons
i like to listen to them in the car
after church we went for a drive in the country
beautiful fall leaves
we stopped at an orchard and got some apples, some cider and some pumpkin donuts
then at 3p we went to the highschool to hear the wind ensemble drew's in
they closed with phantom of the opera
beautiful
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

here i am at jordan's house
i picked him up after school and since it's wednesday we go to his house
on thursdays he comes to our apartment
which he finds very boring
mainly because faith won't let him play with his ds there
so here we are at his house and here i am on jordan's laptop
i forgot to bring my netbook
i've called tim 3 times so far today
grace has told him she wants a legal separation and he's pretty worn down because of it
just checking up on him
aside from those calls (and a call from joe) it's been basically me on the recliner with skippy
very relaxing
and i needed that
because i'm feeling totally zonked
i have to wake up and consciously change positions at night so i don't get that much continuous sleep
drew and nicci are here now so i guess i'll go for now
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

so
here i am at panera again
we just finished our bible study and now i'm checking email and blogging
we were all here today except greg
all
sounds like a crowd
chris, kenny, jay and i
all
susan is starting week 2 of her african adventure
sally is continuing her daily breakfasts for mom
and i'm going to be continuing my daily communing with skippy on the recliner
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

wow
has it been that long
yes
i guess it has
I GAVE MY TESTIMONY
and it went fine
a lot of people cringed
but
no one actually walked out
feedback was mostly positive
God is good
all the time
i went to new jack's house for coffee this morning
we had a nice visit
i went to old jack's wedding reception saturday afternoon
there was a good turnout from cr
right now i am at chloe's visiting with our middle grandson who's going back to his dad's this afternoon
i have to get him to his mom's work by 1:30
actually visiting is too strong a word
he's playing an online computer game while i'm blogging
but
we are in each other's company
that should count for something
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

well
there was no step study last night
i was a little disappointed
but
that meant that i get to spend two nights in a row with faith
so right now i'm up at panera again with my little aspire one
our small group meeting - the last vestiges of it - just broke up and i'm here on my own now
i'll be leaving very shortly to get home to skippy
chris still says he'll be coming friday night
he'll be the only one
that'll be fine
i asked for prayers for humility this morning
i really don't want to blow this with vain conceit
i need to remember to go buy light bulbs when i leave here
i think i'll go ahead and leave now while it's on my mind
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

well
i'm sad
i just found out this afternoon that a nephew and his wife are going to be divorcing
i hate to see their marriage end
they are saying that they still want to remain good friends
i hope they can be
i don't think it will be easy
my sister is bummed out about it
faith and i will keep everyone concerned in our prayers
we are watching our youngest grandson this weekend
he spent the night at a friends house last night
we picked him up this morning and then went to his soccer game
it ended in a 1 - 1 tie
it was cold out but what did i expect it's october in illinois
we may be taking him to see a movie tonight
cloudy with a chance of meatballs
his parents get home from texas tomorrow afternoon
they went to our daughters's 20th highschool reunion
just 6 days till my testimony
i just hope i can keep my ego out of it
"do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit" it says in phi 2:3
pray for me
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

so here i am sitting at the saturn dealership in naperville
came in for an oil change and am having my brake fluid and steering fluid flushed and changed
$325
$325!
at least they have free wifi
tonight i go with jack s to his meeting in st charles to hear his story
i'm looking forward to it
i'm meeting faith at the y right after she gets off work at the school
it'll be the second time this week that we've gone
we need to take advantage of this gift from chloe more than we have been
we need to be more disiplined
didn't get on my knees this morning when i prayed
skippy was snuggled up on my lap and i didn't want to disturb him
i should've prayed before i picked him up
i need to be more disciplined
hmm
is there a theme here
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-10-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

wow
have i really been home for a week
back in my baby's loving arms
cuddling skippy again
too much to remember
i have finally put my testimony to bed (maybe)
just 10 days to go
at the step study last night we completed lesson 20
just 5 to go till we're done
then i'll have monday nights to spend with faith again
this morning i found out that apparently chris is the only member of my men's small group from church that will be able to come to my testimony
oh well
that will be fine
i need to take faith's car in this afternoon to have the right rear turn signal light replaced
then tomorrow morning i take my car in for an oil change and to have the tires checked out
the more i try to focus on prayer the more the enemy causes distractions to interrupt me
i want to pursue a more faithful walk
i want to banish doubt and unbelief from my mind
so there's a little bit of spiritual warfare going on
but
i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

day 2 in lexington
i got up at 9 again and went through the morning routine with mom
about 10:15 headed over to aunt libby's
we had a very nice visit
max was bumbling around a lot
his hind legs have trouble carrying their share of the load occasionally
he kept pacing and pacing
anxious for nickie to get there and feed him and take him for his walk
libby and i had lunch together
a tuna stuffed tomato for her and a blt and onion rings for me
i think i've probably put on about 5 or 6 pounds on this trip so far
sally just called
she and bruce are going to stop for dinner after work then come over here to visit some more
nice
tomorrow i plan on getting up at 8 and leaving for home by 9
i'm not looking forward to the solo drive home
it was okay coming down because the driving was split (about equally) over 2 days
and i had company on the first day
well
i'd better get back an visit with mom some more
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

ok
so i didn't blog last night like i said i would
but here i am today
the service our men's ministry held on friday night at the hotel was awesome
the dinner beforehand was very good too
our speaker was excellent
chris h gave his testimony and it was great even though he was so nervous that his voice quavered
but the highlight was when we each wrote a one word struggle on a three by five card and then went up front to the cross
first we folded the card in half then we dipped our fingers into some red paint symbolizing Christ's blood
we smeared some of the paint on the card then thumbtacked it to cross
i had a lot of trouble with the thumb tack
i dropped two of them
the line behind me was getting longer and longer
finally someone gave me a hand and i got it tacked up
there was a white cloth draped over one arm of the cross for us to wipe our fingers on
when everyone was finished the cross looked ...
i don't even know how to describe it
the next day at iron sharpens iron was also awesome
the keynote speakers were wonderful and very inspiring and the two workshops i went to were very interesting
the worship services were very moving and the music was magnificent
the church where it was held - 91st street christian church - was awe inspiring as well
the church was an order of magnitude greater than our church
not that i don't think pcc is just fine
i would feel lost in a facility that large
the first workshop i went to was on the kairos prison ministry
i asked the presenter to email a local contact to me
i'm thinking about getting involved in either kairos or emmaus again
i'm not totally sure that i would want to make the necessary time commitment though
maybe i should just be happy with celebrate recovery being my ministry for now
we'll see
it would be great to bring the walk to emmaus to pcc though
well
i'm at mom's now
i got here about 8:45 last night
i should've stopped to pee first
i had an accident on the way to the bathroom
sally and bruce came over and we visited till about midnight
great fellowship
i got up this morning at 9 and took mom her thyroid pill and her first glass of water
after i fixed breakfast for mom and put out her am meds and got something to eat myself i settled down in the recliner and read the newspaper till sally and bruce came over again
right now bruce is back home finishing up some weekend tasks but sally is still here
they're going to go to kabob and chipotle for dinner stuff in a little while then they'll come back here and once robin gets through at the knit shop she and philip will join us for a birthday celebration for mom
91!
her actual birthday is tomorrow but it was more convenient for us to all get together tonight
well
now you're up to date
God bless

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

lunch with chloe at taste of china
yum - spicy orange chicken
ah - good conversation
more like a monolog by chloe
now i'm updated on all the grandkids
got a message froom randy today
that was nice
it was an out of the blue kind of thing
got the hotel's address from chris m today
i yahoo-mapped it and it's already in the car
so is the list of workshops i want to go to on saturday
i'm really looking forward to this
i'll pack tomorrow morning after i shower
i won't be able to blog tomorrow but i'll blog as soon as i get to mom's saturday night

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

so not much has happened
i went to the va clinic in aurora this morning for a blood draw in preparation for a regular doctor's visit on the 5th
and that's about it
i work tonight and tomorrow night then i leave for indianapolis friday at 11:15am

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

so here i am at panera after meeting with my tuesday morning men's small (very small this morning - just three) group from church
asked for prayers for travel safety for this weekend
faith works all day today so more cuddle time with skippy
my battery is very low - just an hour left
i forgot to charge it last night
i'll be going home soon
i need to stop being a "double minded" person
i should learn to pray with faith
i should also pray more with faith
just a couple of thoughts
i think i'll go home and make some phone calls
i think i'll stop at mickey d's for a breakfast burrito first
oh - there was no step study last night
old jack had to work overtime

signing off
bye for now

2009-09-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

hi
it's been a while since i've had wifi access
friday i went to celebrate recovery with faith
we both had good small group sessions
watched a powerful testimony from saddleback
julie gives her testimony on the 2nd and i give mine on the 16th
i'm not sure how i feel about having to follow hers
i'm sure hers is going to be very good
i don't remember what we did on saturday (damn this short-term memory loss)
yesterday we went to church and faith got baptised!
chloe and jordan were there
afterward we went out for a late breakfast
they all had texas french toast and i had the trucker's skillet with pancakes
after we said goodbye to them we went on a long drive
we went to pau pau and saw all the wind turbines - awesome
so many long arms waving to us as we drove past
when we got home we napped till it was time to go back to church for our small group meeting
i called new jack yesterday
i want to stay in touch with him
i'm excited already about the men's retreat/iron sharpens iron coming up on friday and saturday
not to mention going on to lexington for saturday night till tuesday
it'll be very nice being with mom for her 91st birthday
this morning i got a phone call from jeff g
we talked for quite a while
good for both of us
step study tonight for the three of us still left

ok
signing off
bye for now

2009-09-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

nothing much new to talk about since yesterday's post.
i keep using my new rythym touch massager on my back and it does relieve some of my pain but i'm not sure that it's helping me to stand up any straighter
ray s called last night to say that he could look at ray n's car next wednesday but he needs more information first
i called ray n this morning
maybe he's already got it taken care of
i don't know
i think i've finally finished editing my testimony for celebrate recovery
it's going to come in at 22 minutes i think
i've invited my men's small group from church to come for it
that has me a little nervous
i don't know how shocked they might be
i still haven't heard from chris m about the address for the men's church retreat coming up on the 26th
i guess i'll call him today
well
signing off
bye for now