Today was not a bad day overall. Most things went well. I baked Irish Brown Bread for the Irish program at the Plymouth History Museum.

I spent three separate times with Boots over at Jim and Michelle's. He is a lonely little guy and is sure glad to be let out of that little room. I have been trying to give him enough time to stretch. He is so cute but sometimes bites. I think he is so GLAD to be with that he gets carried away.

Then we went to the Condo Association meeting. We met a few people and helped approve the budget. On the way home we saw a man walking TWO dogs. I am really mad.

At 1:00 I went over to the Plymouth History Museum to help Beth and Katie, her daughter, set up the food and chairs and all. Dorothy Walsh Best, the harpist, and her husband, Jeff Best, a minister in the "Celtic American Catholic" church arrived almost immediately and she set up her harp. She does a wonderful program, playing traditional and Irish American music and Christmas too. She gives talks about the pieces she plays, the history of the harp and Irish history. The audience was transfixed.

It was fun talking to her husband too. He gives talks on Celtic Spirituality sometimes. I would find that interesting. I find it easy to incorporate many of the Celtic beliefs into my Catholic beliefs. Goodness is goodness. Goodness knows.

We had tea and coffee with cookies and my brown bread and Scripture Cake. All went over really well. Several people asked for the recipes, so I will give them to Beth to put into the next Sheboygan County Historical Research Center newsletter. I have just enough left for a good breakfast tomorrow.

Many people were asking when we will have the next one, so right after Christmas, Beth and I will plan another program.

When I got home, Dick told me to call Leslie. We have BIG news. Nora is engaged and will be married in about two weeks. Then she is planning to join the Air Force and take advantage of the benefits offered by the service. We wish her well. That is an awful lot to take on in only two short months. She had better grit her teeth and hang on for the ride of her life.

Mother is feeling better today. She is still weak as can be but has not felt nauseated since yesterday noon. She ate three light meals today, including a soft boiled egg and is doing her very best to drink 8 glasses of fluids. By trying hard, she will at least get more than she would have otherwise. She is going to lay low and stay home all this next week so she can get all healed.

Guess that is the day. Pretty full, wouldn't you say.

Love

Mary

Last night I got a call about 9:30 from Donna that they had taken Mother to emergency because she started throwing up and became very faint and was not too coherent. So not much sleep until after one AM when I received a final call from Jeff that they had taken her home after she received some intravenous saline drips. She was dehydrated from all the nausea which was a reaction to the anti biotic that they had given her for the bladder infection. What a circle this turned out to be.

She feels much better tonight after a somewhat rocky day. She slept a lot and still had trouble eating. However, tonight she ate a cup of soup and had a cup of tea and seemed a bit stronger. Someone stayed with her all day, but she wants to spend her night alone she says. I will call her in the morning as I am sure everybody else will.

This morning Dick and I went to Hunters Glen to check it out and run water and flush toilets. Then we proceeded to Bobbie and Bill's to feed Roxie and Oscar as Bobbie and Bill spent last night in Milwaukee and went to see the Cudahy Carolers. Roxie reluctantly let me cuddle her. She really just wanted her food. Oscar did not run away, but was only interested in food. I don't think he loves me any more. I sure miss them.

Tonight I went to Mass for the holy day at Blessed Trinity and sang with the choir. We sang Mary Did You Know which is really lovely. Then Cindy Dorn had us all over to her house for hor d oerves, wine and song. It was fun. I do miss singing with the choir but will have to decide if I REALLY want to commit that time at St. John's. I feel I can only pick one time consuming ministry and don't know what it will be yet.

That's all for now. I am really tired.

Michelle called Dick to tell us that Jim had made it to DC safe and sound and that they were going out for dinner. We are watching their kitty, Boots. We went over for about a half an hour this evening so he had some company. I will spend some time tomorrow and Sunday too. He is a cute little guy.



Subject: E-mail from God

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw
all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So
God called one of the angels and sent the angel to
Earth.

When she returned, she told God, "Yes, it is
bad on Earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are
not."

God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I
had better send down a second angel to get another
opinion."
So God called another angel and sent him to
earth for a time too. When the angel returned he
; went to God and said, "Yes, it's true The earth is
in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being
good."

God was not pleased. So He decided to e-mail
the 5% who were being good, because he wanted to
encourage them...give them a little something to
help them keep going.

Do you know what the e-mail said?

Okay, just wondering; I didn't get one either.

Love

Mary

I got my blood test done this morning. One has to fast for 10 hours you know so I did that last night. Then Dick and I went to breakfast and grocery shopping.

I called Mother and she still sounds SO weak. She gets a reaction to the antibiotic. This evening Donna called because Mother was almost out of it after taking the pill tonight after dinner. She and Randy were almost ready to take her to the emergency ward. They called the pharmacist who said that the reaction is not uncommon but that the medication is still one of the best. However, can we leave her alone for that hour or so after she takes the pill? Donna called Dolores and she and Kenny will come out to be with her in the morning. She will eat breakfast and take the pill at about 7:00AM. I had told Donna that I could be there if I am needed but I am really glad that Dolores can come because she works with the elderly and will know what do do with odd reactions. She has been doing it long enough. That poor little lady. I hope this does not continue for the whole time she has to take the medication. She is not scheduled to see Dr. Hancock until Tuesday afternoon. Jeff is coming in to take her for her appointment.

I am going to church tomorrow for the holy day in Sheboygan Falls so will spend the hour before Mass with Mother. That will be a good time as she will be taking another pill about that time. I really don't want to tell her that I am coming because she MAY decide to feel guilty for not going to Mass ON the holy day. We don't need that on top of everything else that she is going through.

I made Scripture Cake today. In case you don't have the recipe, here it is.

We should always let the scriptures be our guide. It even works when making Christmas goodies - at least it works when making this delicious cake. Rad the scriptures indicated to find the ingredients and make this interesting and informative cake for a special family home evening activity.

1 cup Judges 5:25
1 cup Jeremiah 6:20
5 Jeremiah 17:11
1 cup Judges 4:19
2 cups Numbers 28:5
5 teasp. Amos 4:5
1 teasp. Leviticus 2:13
2 cups 1 Samuel 30:12
2 cups Naham 3:12
1 cup Numbers 17:8
Assorted 2Chronicles 9:9 to taste

Follow Solomon's directions for making a good boy Proverbs 23:14. Bake as a fruit cake about 350 degrees for 45to 50 minutes. Makes two standard loaves or five small loaves.

Have fun. I always do.

Mary

P. S. Please pray for my Mom.

I am exhausted. It was quite warm when I woke up this morning, in the low 30s. It still was not a great day for walking as there was a little film of something or other all over the roads. It was not especially slippery but it covered up ice patches. Then Chelsea wanted to go around the park but there were definite patches of ice on the sidewalk leading to the park. So I deferred. It is supposed to get very cold overnight again but warm up for the weekend.

I did some more decorating today. Got all the nativity sets placed around the house. I also hung a few things on doors. The only things left are the music boxes.

Mother called this afternoon and said that she was just unable to go to the play tonight. She sounded so weak. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she just felt weak and that that pain in her side that she suffered about three weeks ago was hurting again. I went right over there and we called the doctor. It turned out that Dr. Hancock had left for the day and the doctor on call, Dr. Willis, (he doesn't impress me. Hasn't for some time.) suggested that she wait for Dr. Hancock in the morning. When I told her that she looked so forlorn that I told her we should just go right away and I took her to the walk in clinic. Four hours later, with an exhausted little lady in tow, we left there with a diagnosis of a bladder infection (which has apparently been building since three weeks ago when the symptoms first appeared) after she received a shot of antibiotics and a prescription to take for the next several days.

As we were coming out of x-ray, Becky showed up. She had come to the clinic for her own appointment and when she talked to her mother, Donna, and found out that Grandma was there she looked for us. So she stayed, bless her sweet heart until we were all done and had Mom loaded into the car.

When we got Mother home it was almost 7:00. I fixed some cup a soup for both of us and some tea for her. Then I came home.

So now you know why I am tired. I found out that I should not wait so long to eat. My stomach started to bother me at about 6:30. Perhaps it would have been OK if I had not been so worried.
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

Have a nice day.

Mary

Today it was 4 degrees when Chelsea and I got up. BRRR!. Needless to say we did not walk very far. Later when the temperatures had gotten up into the low 20s we went a bit further but her poor little paw got cold and I had to warm it up once so we could get home again.

We did not have to go anywhere today. I decorated the Christmas tree. It is really beautiful. We have it at the end of the living room in front of a window near the fireplace . It reflects off of everything. So it is doubly pretty and full of light.

I make Lizzies today too. Boy are they good. Now I just have the Scripture Cake to bake before Christmas. I still haven't found figs in Plymouth. Hopefully they will have them at Pick and Save. I need to get to work on Christmas Cards too. Time is a'wastin.

Saturday is the Irish Christmas gathering at Plymouth History Museum. I got an e-mail from Beth Dipple. We have 25 people signed up which is really good as we know it can only increase. We have to limit it to 50 anyway. I want to see if I can recruit a Celtic Women's group. Perhaps just a few ladies (and gentlemen if they want) would like to be a part of the Celtic Women.

Tomorrow, Dick and I will be taking Mother to see Beauty and the Beast presented by the Sheboygan Theatre Company. Beth Hoegger, my choir director friend, saw it and said that the Beast is magnificent. So I am really excited about seeing it.

Someone looked at the Hunters Glen House today and seem to be interested. They had questions about the well. Please keep your prayers going. Maybe this will be an early Christmas present. We must keep the faith. It is a lovely home and should be lived in. I just hope the new owners have as much happiness as we did there.

We will be taking care of Jim and Michelle's little Boots kitty while they are in Washington DC. Michelle has training starting tomorrow and Jim will be joining her for the weekend. He is a really cute little guy. I will have to spend a bit of time with him so he doesn't think he is totally alone. He will miss them.

A little Imponderable for you.

Why, Why, Why???

do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?

Have a nice Wednesday.

Love

Mary

This was a very productive day. Started out with bible study. We had a very lively discussion on God's promise to make the path level. He speaks of leveling the mountains and straightening the paths and filling in the gorges for us. We decided that the Jewish people of the time did not understand that the straight way was to heaven, not necessarily and probably not to Israel itself. Perhaps they still don't. Perhaps we don't. Tom Keyes pointed out that Israel is withdrawing from some of the territories that they finally agree they should not be in. It would be nice, he said, that if instead of bulldozing the homes in the areas they vacate, would leave them standing for the reoccupying citizens. We were really hot today anyway.

By the way, please say special prayers for my friends, Dan and Shirley Moioffer's son, David who has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that has attacked his liver. The only treatment right now is steroids which present their own set of problems but he will try. Anyway, please pray, this is a hard one.

I stopped at Mother's after Bible Study. We had a nice visit. She reminded me that tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day. Do you celebrate it? We did when we were young and my boys got visits from St. Nick too.

She told me a story. When she was a little girl and their family lived on a farm, she saw St. Nick. He came during the evening, a big man with a heavy old black coat made of animal hides and carrying a whip. He came into the kitchen where everybody was sitting around the kitchen table. There was the Bowser Family, Grandma, Grandpa, Mother, probably Uncle Noel and Uncle George AND a hired hand (they always had supper with the families they worked for.) He came in and started asking questions of everybody. He finally asked the hired hand if he said his prayers at night. The hired hand laughed and said that he never prayed. With that St. Nick took his whip and started beating that hired hand across the back and drove him right out the door. Scared Mother half to death. I could tell that the memory was still there.

She says that she knows NOW that "St. Nick" was one of their neighbors who did this every year, dressed up in the old carriage robes that people wore those days in the winter. But what good did that do then.

Poor little people, what we put them through. Bobbie told me that she never liked clowns. They scared her as a kid. She figured there was something suspicious with a grown person who dressed up like that and acted so silly.

After that I had lunch with my friend Beth in downtown Plymouth. We had soup. They had a chicken chili that was REALLY good.

Dick and I went to Sheboygan Falls to the Bemis store to buy a new toilet seat for our bathroom. It broke. Would you believe? We decided to do it quickly before one of us accidentally sat on it and pinched our bottoms or worse. Years ago, when I was young and Jacquie and I rented a house from Ron and Doris in Costa Mesa, I owned an old Chevy. Those old cars had chrome strip on them and the chrome strip on my car at the front fender was bent. Jacquie and her cousin Linda and I were going into the garage off the alley and when we pulled the garage door open, for some reason, I jumped back too fast and impaled the tip of that chrome strip in my right gluteus maximus. It was NOT good. When we checked it Jacquie and Linda decided that we had better get it checked. It took something like five stitches. I remember the doctor saying, that he and the nurses would not tell anybody. I told him that with Jacquie and Linda out there in the waiting room laughing their heads off, that his promise would not keep it off the streets.

I finished off the day with the last meeting of Rhine Plymouth that I have to take minutes for. They gave me a pin that says Rhine Plymouth Field and Stream - Secretary Four Straight. Wasn't that a sweet thing to do? They are a great group of people.

Have a great Tuesday. I get to stay home and decorate the tree.

Love

Mary

It was COLD all day today. When I woke up it was 11 degrees and I never saw it over 17. BRRRR! Chelsea and I went on VERY short walks off and on today and I started to get a bit testy about it this evening. As cold as it is, it becomes a big production each time. She finds it easy because she does not have to put on boots, gloves, jacket and hat for each trek.

Dick went to church with me this morning. We were testing it out. He likes to go with me once in a while but was avoiding Blessed Trinity because the seats were not padded and were very uncomfortable for him. So he went to St. John's today and was quite comfortable so he will start going again. He was going once a month or so. I like the company too. We went to the Family Restaurant for breakfast. That was a nice break in the day but Chelsea kept asking for her breakfast treats.

This afternoon, Bobbie and I worked at Rhine. We stayed until 3. There were all of three shooters who each shot two rounds. The rest of the people in the building were club members who all watched the Packers get creamed. They lost 38 to 10. What a mess. Sure glad that I chose the NYJets. I would feel guilty but THEY are the ones letting me down.

While I was gone Dick tried to get the tree up. He had called Jim and Michelle and they arrived shortly after I did. Between the four of us, we got it up. It is a new one, a prelit that rotates even. I put on the new Mary's Angel treetop and the tree skirt underneath. Tomorrow and the next day, I will get up the ornaments and finish. That is the FUN part of decorating. Taking out each memory and putting it on the tree. I love it.

Tomorrow will be rather busy. It will be the last meeting that I am the secretary of Rhine Plymouth. After four years, that will be a big load off of me.

Have a nice week and stay warm. We will have to really work at it from the forecast.

Love

Mary