Monday, June 30, 2008

Papa G's Full Obituary

Veto Paul Greto, 82, of Sugar Grove, Pa. and formerly of Warren, died on Friday, June 27, 2008 at his daughter's residence.
Veto was born November 18, 1925, in Warren, the son of the late Giovanni and Mary Barone Greto. Veto was employed with A & B Heating for many years as a sheet metal fabricator, from which he retired.
He was a member of the St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church. He enjoyed bowling and was a member of the American Legion, the Moose Club, the Knights of Columbus and the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club.
He is survived by three daughters, Kathleen Wilcox and her husband, Eric, Sugar Grove, Pa., Karen Greto and her husband, Tom Firth, Lander, Pa. and Ruth Dennis and her husband, Dave, North East, Pa.; two sons, Michael Greto and his wife, Lori, Kane, Pa. and John Greto and his wife, Jackie, Sheffield, Pa.; a sister, Theresa Vavala, Warren, Pa.; 10 grandchildren; two greatgrandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Reilley Greto, whom he married on June 12, 1954, who passed away on May 2, 1984; and a sister, Rose Marie Greto Anderson.
Friends will be received at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Wednesday, July 2, for one hour prior to a Mass of Christian Burial to be held there at 11 a.m. with Monsignor John Lucas, celebrant, assisted by Deacon Joe Lucia.
Burial will be in the St. Joseph Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Warren County, 2 Crescent Park, Warren Pa. 16365 or the Warren County Humane Society, 212 Elm St., Warren, PA 16365.
The Peterson-Blick Funeral Home, Inc., 1003 Penn Ave., E., Warren, is in charge of arrangements.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Papa G.......

Veto Paul Greto, 82, Warren, passed away at his daughter's residence in Sugar Grove on Friday afternoon, June 27, 2008.
The Peterson-Blick Funeral Home, Inc., 1003 Penna. Ave., E., Warren, Pa., is in charge of arrangements.
A complete obituary will be published when available.

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I will post the complete obituary whenever it is done.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Farewell PaPa G.

My Grandpa ( Jadyn's Papa G. ) passed today. I know he is probably much better off than he was. He was just sick and olf for the past few months. He was diagnosed with Lung Cancer a few years ago. Although he had conitinued to beat the cancer with radiation and chemo he was just getting "old". His body was aging fastly. Maybe it just seemed fast because just 3 short years ago he was still driving his car to come to my mother's house to see Jadyn. Then he just started to deteriorate. About 6 months ago he built a room on to my mom's house and began to live with her. He, of course, would get confused and ask when he was going home and such. At this time the doctor's and my mom and her siblings decided his quality of life was non existant. They stopped the chemo and put him in Hospice.


Grandpa also went on many great adventures ( several dinner party's). Although he never really left the house...lol He started to lose his mind. That to me was sad. Especially since he always seemed so Healthy and Strong to me. However, it did make me giggle at times too. Like the day he decided he was going to wear a T-shirt as pants. I was also invited to go on the train with him one night to a fancy dinner party. Simply because he didn't know a lot of people and he wanted me to go with him. He was so cute in the final days. So kissable!


Grandpa, Veto, Dada, Papa G....... You will be missed! We Love You!!

Jadyn and Papa G watching their favorite show together, M.A.S.H.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

What?!?!

I have started my period already?? That's crazy! Oh well, I guess I can start the injections that much sooner, right??.... :-)

Here are a few more quilts I made:
Holly Hobby Nursery Rhyme:


Blue Jean Teddy:

Disney Princesses:

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

To all you pregnant people......

No offense but I don't like you much!

Monday, June 16, 2008

For Crying Out Loud.......

I have been stabbing myself daily with 3-4 different needles a day for NOTHING! MY IVF cycle is going to be cancelled because the Dr. dropped my meds to quick and my Estrogen levels are crashing!! Isn't that wonderful?!?!?!?! On a good note, the DR. is going to replace my meds I used. Seeing as though we pay out of pocket for the meds, that is mighty white of him. After all it was his mess up. So, here we go AGAIN..... wait and watch and see what happens for a few weeks. Start provera, the pill, blah blah blah!!! Pfffftttt! I have nothing more to say!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

What a busy day we had!!!

Yesterday we were non stop action!! We went outside to play and then decided we wanted to drive to the canal to feed the baby geese. We had to keep saving Jadyn from the hissing BIG geese but she didn't care. She thought it was funny. Then, we decided to take a ride by Gateway Park in hopes that Jadyn might fall asleep. Well, when we got there there were several fancy kites up in the air. We stopped to walk through the park to look at all of the kites. When we were walking by one car a guy yelled out to us that he had a kite Jadyn could have. We stayed at the park flying her kite for well over an hour.
We then came home and Jadyn and Moma took a nap. When they woke up we went to Subway for dinner. If ever Jadyn won't eat I have decided I am going to take her to Subway. She CHOWS on those subs. Then, we went to Barnes and Noble. Jadyn got a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book, Charlie and Lola book and a wooden magnetic dress up doll made by Melissa and Doug. They also had a Thomas the Train display set up so she played with the other kids for about an hour.
By the time we left there it was about 9:00. On the way home in the car Jadyn kept saying "That was FUN, Thank You so much"........lol She is so cute!!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

A cute News story my mom sent me :-)

Greg and I had fun at the cemetery last weekend.I know. "Cemetery" evokes solemnity, reverence, respect, grieving.We did all of that, too.But the people beneath the sod, those in whose honor and memory we planted petunias and marigolds and geraniums (geraniae?) ... those were fun-loving people.In years past, I had visited that same cemetery with some of the folks whose bodies now rest there. Mom and I tended to Dad's grave, other elderly relatives did similar stuff, members of a generation younger than mine started to observe the rituals, little knowing that life's foreshortenings might apply to them so soon.Dad died when I was a teenager. Mom didn't die until I was in my 50s. So there were entire decades of Mom and myself planting petunias and marigolds and geraniums in the bed atop Dad's grave.Each year, we argued.Mom was very definite. So am I.In the beginning, we didn't argue much. Mom did the planting. I did the digging, the sod-hauling, the rocks-removing.After awhile, Mom's aching knees delegated the planting to me - under her direction. That is when we argued. She would threaten to not buy lunch at Wendy's. Mom had no car after Dad died, so I would retaliate by threatening to leave her stranded at the cemetery. She would raise the ante by threatening to tell all the relatives that I had made her walk the two miles to her home. I would call her raise, then trump her, by starting to talk VERY LOUDLY! Mom hated "scenes," and I didn't care, so that always worked, though it made for some fairly frosty rides down the hill from the cemetery.We ended up laughing. Sometimes, my own mother threw mud or dirt into my face! Oh, the shock! After all, I was so innocent!Last weekend, Greg threw dirt into my hair.Greg, 30, has Down syndrome. He also has knee and hip joints that are worse than Mom's were. He waddles, and does not bend willingly. Saturday, he spent most of the time in a lawn chair, earnestly turning each geranium upside down, tapping the plastic pot, then removing it, to hand me - most of the time - a plantable flower and root -and-dirt clump.When his sub-par fine motor skills failed him, the marigold's blossom snapped off and its root dirt fell away, I would tease him."What is THAT? Spaghetti? You want me to plant spaghetti? Grandma would be MAD!"Greg would argue back."No-no-no-no! No me! You goofy!""Goofy" comes out "doobley," but its meaning is similar, in Greg-speak. Non-family members are sometimes taken aback when one of us replies to another, "I'm not feeling well. I feel sort of doobley today."Purely by accident, a trowelful of dirt was flipped onto Greg's shoe.That prompted his throwing dirt into my hair. We had a good old time for a minute or two, before we thought about where we were, and became "solemn" again.After we finished the beds at Mom and Dad's grave, we "made the rounds." We visited the graves of Greg's sister Maria and cousin Jamie, and the plot of Grandma and Grandpa Goodwill. Grandma Goodwill died last December.At each site, we said something to recall the person, remembering this one's smile or that one's love of food or whatever. Then we said a small prayer. Greg's was usually "Thank you, God. Jaime (or whomever), I love you. Bye."Believe me, that gets you.By the time we reached Grandma and Grandpa Goodwill's plot, I was moist-eyed, but didn't want to show it. Greg, though, was seemingly unaffected, waddling cheerfully from plot to plot, saying "Hmmm!" at each pretty flower arrangement on gravesites we passed.I stood on Grandpa's side of the double stone, and Greg stood on Grandma's side.Greg doesn't read very well. He couldn't read this column.But he can sight-read: "Stop," or "Men," or "Exit." That kind of thing.His eyes picked up "Ruth," and "2007." This was the first year that Grandma would not be with family members at the cemetery, not in the way we were accustomed to.Greg's mouth got sort of square. Then...."Aaaah-waah-Aaaa-WAAAAHHH!"Greg bawled out loud, with all the subtlety of a group of donkeys.Startled, people who had been bent over nearby gravesites, planting, turned to see whether there really were donkeys in the cemetery.Greg sobbed. Again. A third time.Then, as only Greg can do, he tucked his head into his arm near his shoulder, and wiped his eyes and nose along the entire length of his sleeve.He looked up, caught my eye, and said, "Me OK!"Then he moved over next to me, put his hand on my shoulder, looked into my eyes, and asked, "You OK?"Well, no, I wasn't, not really.I ached for those people, for too-young grandsons Ian and Adam, for my own parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors, their resting places marked by carved stones outlining a scavenger-hunt pattern down the hillside of St. Joseph's Cemetery in Warren.I had tried to keep all that inside. Greg (as usual) cut through the appearances and took care of business.He visited. He planted. He remembered. He laughed. And, when it was appropriate, he cried, openly, honestly, heart-touchingly.Then, after I had answered his question by saying, "Yes, Greg, I am OK," he took care of more urgent business."Lunch ... now? Wendy's?" he asked.Pretty soon, there we were at Wendy's, getting Greg's favorite: "Number 4."And laughing, again, in that free and easy way that brings us back after having cried, knowing we will cry again, but then, we will also laugh again.Fun at a cemetery?Sure. Why not?


- - -Denny Bonavita is the editor and publisher of McLean Publishing Co. in west-central Pennsylvania, including the Courier-Express in DuBois. E-mail: denny2319@windstream.net

Friday, June 6, 2008

Injections and Menopur

Injections and Menopur start tomorrow night. Let's hope we can get lots of GOOD eggies. Not to many though. I don't think I want my cycle to be cancelled again. I will probably have to choke someone. I only have enough meds and money for this shot. If it doesn't work we will either stop trying or we will have to wait until we are rich....lol I guess that is a decision we will have to make later........ Hopefully it will work and we wont have any decisions to make :-) I had my baseline U/S on Tuesday and all was well.
Jadyn has been doing my Lupron shots for me...... She rubs the alcohol pad on my belly for me. I stick the needle in and she pushes down the plunger. It is so cute. She is so proud of herself every time she does it. The first few times she hugeed me after the shot. I guess she thinks it hurts. When you are as chubby as me you just don't feel it....haha!!!
On another note. My Grandpa is home from the hospital. He fell and broke his hip and had to be in rehab for a few weeks. He, of course, health wise got worse. His breathing is poor. My mom is now helping him eat. If she sets the food on his stand he sits there and looks at it. I hate seeing him like that. That's just not him. I still remember just THREE years ago ( well, almost 3 years ago) he was driving up to my mom's house to see Jadyn after she was born. He so looked forward to her birth. He said " That gives me something to look forward to" after he found out he had cancer in his lungs. I really do believe it did help him in the fight. He did Defeat the lung cancer for a few years. Now his body is failing though. It's sad but I know we can't live forever. I just hope he doesn't have to be like this for a long time. I will surely miss him.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Cute Little Cow rag quilt

How cute is this quilt?? Why can't Jadyn still be a baby so I can wrap her in cute things???....lol