Barely Made It

Christmas seemed to sneak up on me this year. I usually have my cards done and sent out the first week of December, all the presents bought by week two... but my cards went out really late and I was still shopping on the 23rd! 

 

There were doctor's appointments, and dentist appointments, and one of the busiest seasons at work, and a new grand baby, and snow, and ice... but we were able to get everything done just in time.

We ended up getting a good amount of snow (for our area) on the 18th, then more on the 21st. Then the temps dropped into the teens and everything was covered with ice!

 

Beth had a party to go to and after DART picked her up they called to cancel her ride!

 

Chuck helping her out to the bus

 

Too late! So we ended up canceling her return ride and we just picked her up ourselves. Chuck drives city buses in this stuff for a living so this was nothin' for him.

 Our yard and street covered with a layer of ice. We had it very mild compared to other parts of the country!

 

We went to Sharaya's on the 24th to give Ally her traditional Christmas Eve pajamas. It's been a tradition in our family for more than 30 years.

1994

2013

2022

Chuck, Beth and I had a quiet Christmas morning. Beth was a little concerned about the change in the Christmas routine this year but she was pretty happy when it was all over. She even played Santa and handed out the gifts.

 

 

 

You can see what I got on the coffee table, a turntable! I had one quite a few years ago but it died. I'm so excited to be able to play my records again! Oh wait, they're called vinyls now. I'm excited to play my vinyls!

 

 

New slippers!

 It was around noon when we headed to Diana and Peter's. We played trivia, opened a few gifts, had a delicious Italian dinner and everyone held Adelaide! 💖

The Brunos and the Andersons. The Brundersons!

 

 

 

 

Peter's mom

 

Ally and Sharaya. And Poppy

Me and my granddaughters. It was the best day!!

A Quiet Weekend

Not too much going on around here at the moment. We got the TV stand put together and now the toilet in the big bathroom needs to be replaced. It's just got a small leak, nothing too serious but we've got to get it replaced sooner than later.

 

And Friday the handle on the kitchen faucet broke off. Thankfully there's a small part sticking out that we can use to turn the water on and off so it's still usable. We went to Home Depot yesterday and bought a new faucet. Now we just have to install it.

 

After church today we went out for lunch with Diana and Peter, then came back here to play UNO. Sharaya was at a birthday party and Ally was with her dad so they weren't able to join us.

 

Tomorrow we're back to work, and Beth is going to All Aboard for dance class, art, and playing games.

 

I hope you had a good weekend! 

Various Updates

 I realize I haven't kept you updated on things going on around here.

First of all, Chuck's MRI came out clean. He's still cancer free!

 

Thank you for the ideas on the card game. Pokeno was the only one I recognized but after googling the games, I didn't remember the rules of any of them! The way Ally and I play it is a lot like Pokeno though. 

 

The email subscriptions: I've started adding everyone to my blog list but it might take a while to get all of you on it. Please forgive me if I haven't commented on your posts in a while.

 

I've been enjoying these quiet summer months. Work is about to get super busy so I'm taking Fridays off while I can and I'm loving having two days off in a row! It makes a huge difference!

 

Beth overslept on Monday and missed her bus to All Aboard. I think she set her alarm for PM instead of AM. She texted me at work about the time her bus was supposed to arrive. She's usually really good about being upstairs and ready so I expect the driver waited the required 5 minutes then left. That's not the first time that's ever happened to a driver! 

 

Sharaya and Ally will be moving soon. They found a place about 10-15 minutes from here, a two story, two bedroom condo. Ally was showing me some pictures and it's really cute. It has a fireplace, a small backyard, it looks perfect for them. 

 

We all went over to Diana and Peter's for lunch a couple weeks ago. They took us out to their garden. They share it with their neighbors, one side for them and the other for the neighbors. They have zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes cucumbers, pumpkins, various spices... and we've loved reaping the benefits of their hard work!

 

 

 Just some of their harvest

 

 The bunnies sure have been multiplying lately. There are so many in the backyard now, I'm wondering if we should be doing something to control them. I saw these three out last night: it's hard to see but there's a tiny one just in front of mom's nose.

 

 

Then this other little guy hopped closer to me

 

Mom was checking on the rabbit hole.

I don't know if there's more in there!

 

I know there were some living under a bush in a different part of the yard, I don't know if it's the same bunnies or a whole new family. I'm starting to get a little concerned. Do they eventually move on? Are they here for the long term? Have you encountered bunnies in your yard?
 

MRI Update, Garden Stuff, and Games

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post.

 

Chuck's oncologist had given him some Lorazepam to take about an hour before the test. He was very relaxed when I drove him down there!

 

He got into the machine and after about 4 minutes he asked to be taken back out. He took some more medicine, sat in the chair for a while then tried again. The second time he was able to last the entire time. What a relief! So now we wait for the results. We expect it will be a tele-med appointment.

 

I trimmed my hydrangea bush way back this year and only got two blooms on it. I wondered if that would happen. Just have to look forward to next year!

 

 Ally and I have been playing games lately. She's really good and usually beats me!

This is a form of Mancala. I learned it as The Shell Game when I was in grade school. Some of the rules I learned are different from Mancala but it's basically the same game.

My mom had these cards when I was growing up but I don't know if they were part of a game or not. There's probably 10 cards all together. She gave them to me many years ago and we've always just used them to play Bingo. Have you seen them before?

 

We've had temps in the 90's the last few days. The windows and blinds are closed all day and the fans are going full blast. It was 85 in here last night around 9:00! Tonight it's a few degrees cooler but we're supposed to have these temps for a few more days. We're soaking it up because we know it will be over before we know it!

 

I hope you're doing well. Have a wonderful day!

Moving Sky, Wild and Beautiful, and Should We Say We Both Won?

Ally and I played UNO the other day. We gave each other no mercy and it took us over an hour to finish the round! I won because I discarded the final card. But she says she won because the card I discarded was one that read, "Switch Hands" so she handed me her cards, but I gave them back because the game was over, but she insisted... I still say I won. 😄

 

We've had record rainfall this Spring but things are starting to shift. We've had dryer days and the weather is warming up. About a week ago I was sitting out in the backyard and the clouds took on this interesting formation. It looks like they're being blown to the left but when I looked at it, the entire formation was moving to the right. It was so nice out so I just watched it for a while.

 

These flowers have appeared in my yard. Last year I only had the pink ones and this year some white ones have popped up too. I just love them! They're in a small garden area that is becoming full of wild flowers, they've just multiplied over the years. I love it when the birds and the wind help me with the gardening. I think there's a total of 6 of these plants now. Anyone know what they're called?

A Quick Hello

Every week I tell myself I'm going to post more. I'm going to do better. Then another week goes by.

I took a couple days off work this week so we could paint our bedroom and get some other projects done around the house. It's not going as planned.

Work is still very busy. I just got a call from one of our pastors (Tuesday 9:30pm) about an outside door propped open. On the first floor, no windows, front of building, next to a very busy street... I called the custodian and he closed it. I've contacted our security manager and facility manager.

We celebrated Father's Day this past Sunday as Diana and Peter are spending the actual day in New Jersey with his family. We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then to their house for pie and games. Have you ever played Phase 10? (Did I ask you this before?) Anyway, years ago my family played Frustration Rummy. It's very similar but I think Phase 10 is more frustrating! I lose every time.

I'm going to get ready for bed. It's not quite 10:00 and I can hardly keep my eyes open. We got part of the bedroom painted today, cleaned everything up so we can sleep tonight, and we'll hopefully finish up tomorrow.

I hope you're all doing well.

Waves

The last week has been full. A birthday, dentist appointment, card games and pet entertainment.

We all went to Scott's for dinner then came back here to give Chuck his gifts, eat pie and play Skip-Bo. He turned 64 this year and I'm so grateful for him.

 

Diana and Peter brought Poppy over and she ran and played and kept them from sitting for too long. In and out, in and out most of the night. But that's good because it means she's potty trained. 😊 She really is such a good girl!

Beth had a dentist appointment. Just a cleaning, but they said she has a wisdom tooth that has to come out so they're referring us to an oral surgeon. Beth is really good about procedures like this so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. I'll try not to freak out in front of her.

Preparing for x-rays.

 

Mia and Moxie are the best. These sisters will antagonize each other, hide around a corner then attack when the other walks by, they chase each other around the house... so much fun to watch! And they're so curious. About e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

But mostly the week has been about my sister. I was able to talk to my brother-in-law Ken. More like my brother really. He and Kathy met when I was in grade school. 

This is a terrible copy (and I can't find the original) but I was about 8 here. He's really been a part of our family my whole life.

He told me they were in bed and he got up to fix the heater and she got up to use the bathroom. He heard her go back to bed so he was talking to her about the heater and she wasn't answering him. When he got to the bedroom... she was unresponsive. It was that quick. 

She had some health issues I wasn't aware of so I'm curious to see what they put as the 'cause of death' on the death certificate.

The waves of grief are coming less now. I was doing okay yesterday and when I got in the shower I sobbed. Couldn't stop it. So I didn't.

Thank you all for your kind words. It was very healing to read all your comments. I'll get back to reading and commenting on your blogs soon. I hope you're doing well.