The countdown has begun.

This morning, I had to pick up SHARE. I usually pick up Kate to get hers too and called her early to see if she wanted to go out for breakfast. She did. We went to the Family Restaurant and both had Spinach/Feta Omelets with hashbrowns and raisin toast. Very good and I have enough for tomorrow's breakfast too. Then we went to pick up the SHARE. We got to the Armory and found that they had had to relocate to the Lutheran Church on Eastern Avenue probably because of some kind of maneuvers at the armory.

When I got home, I started cooking for tomorrow. And sewing on the cover for Dick. I am ready to put the back on it and then just have to tie it. I need to finish a "bib" or two also.

I had two meal vouchers left for the Center, so I had Dinner and Supper with Dick today. I brought a few things home each time. There is very little that we have to carry out. We will ask the kids to go over to get the TV when they get here. I will be glad to have it back downstairs again. It is nice when I am sewing and doing my crafts down there.

When I was sewing today, that silly Roxie came down and proceeded to get to the highest place in the room, the top of the cupboards over the stove down there. She jumped up on the counter, to the microwave, to the refrigerator and then to the top of the cupboards. She was quite pleased with herself.

I went to the 4PM Mass. Now I can devote tomorrow to getting Dick home safe and sound. He has his new wheelchair. It is a light weight and a bit narrower. He says it is a bit snug but not uncomfortably so and he is planning on losing a bit more weight anyway. Hopefully, the wheelchair will be a temporary thing anyway.

My cold is worse today. I figure tomorrow should be the worst day, then it should start receding. My ear was bothering me a bit too. That really bothers me. I have taken some decongestant and hope that will take care of it. It probably isn't helping that I have to keep taking Chelsea out in this cold and that little old lady has to go more often. Well, that is the way it is so we will cope.

Have a great Sunday. I will, I know now that my sweetheart will be back home with us. Wonder what the critters will think of that.

Love

Mary

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY


In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and
Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case
against
Christians, Jews and observances of their holy days.

The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized
days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate
presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case
dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor,
how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas,
Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet
my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client,
counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance
or holiday for atheists."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day.
Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'
Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is
no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is
adjourned.

This is too good not to forward.

MaryJo Kaufmann

Well, now I've gone and done it. I caught a cold. So far I am keeping the symptoms under control. I hope I can continue with that. I always figure if you treat the cold, it lasts 7 days, if you don't, it lasts a week.

Goofy Chelsea got me up at 2AM. I don't know what is wrong with her these days. I had trouble getting back to sleep. But at least I rested well.

I cleaned the kitchen floor this morning before going over to spend the morning with Dick. He started therapy at 10:30AM and Tim from National Prosthetics was there to make a few adjustments on Dick's prosthesis. Actually, it needed very little and Tim and Lori are pleased with his progress. We will be bringing the prosthesis home with us tomorrow and he will practice putting it on and off and just wearing it every day. We will go in three times a week to practice actually walking until he is ready to go it alone. Big steps today.

His wheel chair also came to the center this afternoon, so we are rolling.

I had lunch with the bank ladies. We had a pretty full crew. Marlene, Betty (recovering from her surgery), Dawn, Ceil, Barb, Mary and me.

I picked up some new pillows for us on the way home. I figured that since he will need more than one for bracing himself, a new one was in order. When I arrived home, the Time Warner guy was already waiting for me. It was only 2PM and I had not expected him until between 3 and 5 so this was a real bonus. He did a quick and thorough job and was out in about an hour and a half. Everything is working just fine.

I did some sewing on Dick's lap robe. I had hoped to get further, but should be able to finish tomorrow.

At 5PM Nancy picked me up to go to Rhine to shoot our first rounds for the winter pistol league. We are excited. There ar 13 people signed up for pistol this league. I didn't do too well but will keep plugging along. I shot 4 targets and the last was showing SOME improvement. Toni and Janet, who are also Celtic Women, are shooting also. They are so excited that Dick is coming home, that Janet made a special pillow for Dick to welcome him him from the Celtic Women. After he gets to see it , I will take a picture and post it for you to see. How sweet is that? It is personalized for him also.

Then I had to take a couple things over to Dick and kiss him goodnight. Now me and the critters are settling down for a long winter night. Hope you are too. It is supposed to be getting cold again.

So tomorrow I cook. I am picking up Share too. I will have lunch and supper with Dick but intend to spend the rest of the time at home getting the last minute things done.

Til then.

All my love and stay warm

Mary

Well, another day closer to being a family again.

Chelsea woke me up at 2:10AM. Needless to say, I was back in bed with the door closed by 3:10AM and slept until 6AM. Roxie is quite nice about not banging on the door during that time, but she is waiting for me when I come out, ready for breakfast.

I vacuumed the bedroom this morning and did a load of wash before heading over to the Center. I was there in plenty of time to go down to therapy with Dick. We discussed wheel chairs so I had to make a couple of calls before going to Mass at 10AM. Fr. Van Beeck was there to say Mass for whoever of the residents wished to come. I was glad I did not miss it.

We brought Dick upstairs with his prosthesis on and he kept it on until after the afternoon therapy, after 3PM. He had very little discomfort except when actually getting up or sitting down. Then there is a sore spot on the stump. He has little problem while walking, just a little tightness. Tomorrow Tim from National Prosthesis will be there to do some more adjustments and give more hints.

We now have the current list of all his meds. Some of what we had are good and the Center will send whatever are left of his current bubble packs, so we will be replacing them as they run out. We have an appointment with Dr. Sharon on Wednesday so can firm everything up then.

I hope to high heaven that everything we need is ordered now. We have the slide boards, the threshold ramp and the commode are on the way. I HOPE we have the wheelchair coming. That has been a nightmare. Everybody tells me that I need to do something different. Dr. Sharon is probably ready to kill us as he must have four requests for different information. All we want is a wheelchair covered by Medicare and nobody knows what they are doing.

I ate lunch with Dick today and when all was done, I came home at about 4:30PM and STAYED. I need some time to recuperate. Hope I am taking enough.

Dick got his hair and beard cut today too.

So it was a busy day. Tomorrow looks just about as busy. But I have to be home between 3 and 5 to wait for Time Warner. SO I should be able to rest then. Saturday, I intend to stay home EXCEPT for having dinner and supper with Dick and going to Church. Then Sunday is the BIG day.

I am glad that Bobbie and Bill and Jim and Michelle are coming for dinner. It will be good to have someone here for part of the day in case there are bugs to work out.

Take care and pray for us.

Love

Mary

A few more steps closer to the Homecoming.

I slept so well last night. Chelsea did not wake me up until 3:30Am and I did get right back to sleep until 6AM.

I went grocery shopping fairly early then arrived at the Care Center at 10AM. I was in time to watch Dick do most of his morning therapy. We got back to his room just about the time Jeff came to help me bring our green recliner home. It is not heavy but is bulky and Jeff was kind enough to bring his truck today. While we were at the center we stopped to see an old friend of Mother's who is a resident there. Jeff was in school with his son. That was fun.

Jeff was heading for Sheboygan Falls and lunch with Mother. It is her birthday today. She is 93. Jeff did a bunch of chores for her while he was there too. Then Eileen and Fred were bringing her supper. So she had a home birthday with lots of attention.

I took dinner/lunch over and had that meal with Dick, then came home and stayed. I napped for an hour or more, then vacuumed the old office and positioned the green chair in there.

Since then, I have been trying to just take it easy. I did a few computer things but have tried to stay very quiet. Rest is the order of the day.

So that was the day. Tomorrow, the nurses will go over Dick's meds with us and we will be sure we are all on the same page.

Hope you have a gently sleep and a good day tomorrow. We must enjoy this "heat wave" as I understand that another arctic front is heading our way.

Mary

Today was VERY interesting.


I got up at 6AM and seemed to be on the go all day. I had tons of things to put away and get straightened out this morning before going over to spend the morning with Dick. I also had to put out the trash. I got to the center at about 9:30, having taken out the trash on the way. He went down for therapy at about 10AM. We spent an hour trying on the prosthesis and working on getting on and off of the toilet. A very essential thing if he is to come home.

We got upstairs in time to watch Obama take his oath as president listen to his acceptance speech. I thought it was a good speech and enjoyed the invocation very much. We really watched inauguration all day whenever we were near a TV. Now I am tired of it. I ate dinner with Dick then we met Lori from Therapy downstairs to come home and do a home evaluation to see what we might need to do to make everything safe.

A bit of a side. When I walked down to therapy, Leah, Lori's assistant, who had a baby just before Christmas, was there visiting with her little sweet angel, Tanner. He is a beautiful baby boy. I don't know how long Leah will be gone, but perhaps Dick will be done with therapy altogether. That would be bittersweet. Leah is very nice but we would like to be DONE.

Then Lori, Dick and I came home. Bobbie and Bill were here putting in the last of the grab bars for Dick. Lori really put Dick through his paces, with and without the prosthesis. He got on and off of the toilet, moved around the house, to his desk and into the kitchen. He also got in and out of bed. Chelsea was SO glad to see him. He felt good about that.

We did not get back until almost four o'clock. Then I had to go to Walmart, the vet and to the bank before coming home for supper. I did go back to see Dick one more time but I was so tired that Dick felt bad that he asked me. Anyway. I am home now and will go to bed as soon as I can.

A new Maxine

"Personally I think conservatives and liberals should move towards the middle of the road. Makes 'em easier to run them over."

Love

Mary

Today was this week's marathon day. At least for me.

I got up at my usual 6AM (with the little trip to the outside with Chelsea at 2AM), took care of critters, took a shower and got over to see Dick at about 8:30AM.

I then went to Bible Study, stopping at Mother's on the way over to the rectory because she wanted me to bring her church envelope. As she has been not getting over to church, she was feeling that she was behind in her obligation. Isn't that sweet. The gals at the church laughed and said in mock surprise, "she has not been going to church." We all agree that she is a very wise lady and as I told them we, her children, would be quite upset if she DID try to go with all the ice that is on the ground.

Bible Study was quite interesting. We are still not too thrilled with some of the "ideas" that St. Paul had about marriage and women. I said that I wanted to have a talk with him when I get up there and everybody agreed that they all want to be there to watch and hear what we have to say.

Mom and I had a nice visit after the Bible Study. We got onto a discussion of pets, especially cats, that have been part of our lives.

I got home in time to fix a sandwich, walk Chelsea and get over to the Care Center to have a cup of tea with Dick as he ate his dinner. Then, Peggy, who's husband is also a resident at the Center and has joined the Cream City Writers, and I drove on over to Kate's house. Kate had wanted to host the meeting for Christmas, but it didn't work out, so she did it today and had even left her tree up for everybody to see. She served tea and cookies. We have a new lady, Jennifer, who joined us. She read a short story she had written and she is really VERY good.

We had rather odd words last meeting but I did come up with two short poems using all but one of them. I will put one here. It is not great but whimsical.

A Dilemma

Frozen ice cycles
That's silly
If ice cycles thaw, they are not ice cycles at all.

They are water
Dripping onto snow
During January thaw.

I had to leave there at 1:45PM because Tim of Custom Care Transport picked Dick up at 2:00PM to to to see Dr. Moreno.

Bobbie and Bill were with Dick when I got there. They had come to check what height to put the grab bars next to the toilet. Having determined that, they left along with us and came over to our house. He got one up and will come back to do the other.

Dr. Moreno is VERY pleased. One wound is pronounced healed and the other is ALMOST there. The representative of the company that produced the grafts was there and asked to sit in on the exam. He said that after four weeks they are usually happy with a 50% improvement and Dick is almost 100%. 1 in 4 also need a second graft and Dick obviously does not need that. So. Yippee!!

Now Dr. Moreno wants him walking twice a day with the prosthesis until he gets home. Then we will be going to therapy three times a week.

We got back about 4PM. I came home and fed critters and prepared a cup of soup to take back to the Center so I could eat supper with Dick and stay with him until it was time to pick up Nancy and Kate to go to the Sheboygan County CWI meeting.

Rosalie Hartman hosted us. She entertained us with piano music of old Celtic Aires and Jigs. It was truly pleasant. We shared breads and pantoni from Italy and cookies and tea. We also shared some of our favorite books. There were 11 of us there. We all fit together so nicely. So much to share and enjoy about each other. Rosalie's home is beautiful. I wish I could describe it to you. They built it themselves and it is her. She even has a spiral staircase that leads up to her loft and upstairs bedroom. The colors of her rooms are an art piece in themselves and then she had art that she and Bill, who has gone on, collected. I knew Bill and can imagine the fun they had gathering these things.

Now I am home and Chelsea is wishing that I would just hang it up and go to bed. So I believe that I will.

Tomorrow, Dick will come home to test things out. Lori, his therapist, will come along with us. It will be a test run.

Love

Mary

Such a nice peaceful Sunday.

Chelsea did not get me up until 3:30AM and I was able to get back to sleep. I really COULD have slept much longer than I did this morning but figured I had better get up when it got close to 6:30AM as I was afraid of being chastised by the critters if I slept much longer.

I spent the time before going over to be with Dick getting ready for tomorrow. Monday's are supposed to be MY day. And it is. I have Bible Study and coincidentally it is also the Cream City Writers meeting in the afternoon AND the CWI meeting in the evening. That would really be enough but Dick has an appointment with Dr. Moreno at 2:45PM so there is scarcely an hour of free space in there. Oh Well. that is the way it goes sometimes. Everything happens "to oncst".

I ate dinner/lunch with Dick in the dining room. We were served turkey and pumpkin pie. Quite good. Then I went out to the Whirl Wind to participate in the annual sausage tasting. I had opted out of rabbit hunting but it was nice to see the hunters anyway. Seven people brought venison sausage made at 7 different meat markets, or at home. We also had a stick of beef Johnsonville sausage. The idea is that all the people in the bar ( there was a pretty good crowd today) taste all of them and choose their favorites. I don't know who the winner was as of yet but I have to say that this year there was not a real dud in the mix. Some years it is really easy to eliminate some. I picked one early but did not hate any of them.

Then I cam home and finished up a few more things for tomorrow before going back to help Dick with a few things and to massage his leg. That is very important for circulation and for toughening it up so the prosthesis won't bother it.

And here I am home again and ready to call it for the night.

I got the funniest email from my friend Janet. I sent it to Bobbie and she agrees. I am going to copy and paste it her for you.

Love

Mary

WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND

This really works...!

If you don't believe it, just try this experiment.

Put your dog and your spouse in the trunk of the car for an hour.

When you open the trunk, who is really happy to see you?