I did not sleep well last night but at least Chelsea did not get me up until 5AM. I woke up a bit before that and was actually afraid to get up and look for her. I sure was glad that she finally came to get me. We went out for our walk right away and I just stayed up.

I had a nice nap this morning, which was SO nice after the rotten night that I had.

Except for church, I was able to stay home all day. I finished my cleaning and did some baking. I made some Lemon Balm scones which turned out to be very tasty. I also put a fruit salad together. We do like out fruit salads. As long as the fruit is so good, we decided that I will make one each week. this one has watermelon, orange, blueberries, kiwi, grapes and strawberries.

Dick walked twice today and we got his bath accomplished. We both agreed that the bath is getting easier all the time. In time, he will be able to do most of it himself. The foot is looking pretty good after he walks, so we are encouraged.

Mass was nice. The folk choir sang and we were celebrating the 100th birthday of Dolores Gentine. She looks pretty darned good too. Next week an Archbishop from Jos in Nigeria, Ignatius Kaigama, will be spending time at St. John the Baptist for the Annual Mission Appeal. We are also having a Picnic to celebrate the conclusion of the Faith in our Future Campaign. So it will be a very full weekend.

Tomorrow I do not have to go anywhere. Bobbie will be coming over to work on wine. So company we will have. I am frying out. I am going to do some brats and some venison steaks. You can join us if you would like, there will be plenty.

Love

Mary

2:30AM again. I might as well just have a newborn in the house. No matter how late I take Chelsea out lately, she is still poking me early.

Oh Well, I guess there is nothing that can be done about it but I sure am starting to feel it. Broken sleep is a bummer and I need my sleep. Naps are helping when I can get them.

I vacuumed the living room this morning and Dick walked early. I left at about 9:30 take Mother to Fesslers for her colostomy supplies. It was nice dealing with Barb, the lady that handles those specialty items. She remembered helping Dick get his stockings fitted. She was sorry to hear that he lost his leg but pleased that things are improving.

Mother and I went directly from there to the Clinic for her blood test. That went really quickly. She should hear on Monday or Tuesday, I would imagine, if she is indeed anemic. If so, an iron supplement should correct that and perhaps she will get a bit of energy back. Years ago, I was anemic and was tired all the time.

I got home in time to fix a Chef's Salad for Dick's lunch. Then trotted over to the Dairy Queen for lunch . There were four of us there today. Betty said that someone actually dug up the flowers that she had planted at her husband's grave. Can you believe anyone being as low as that? To take tributes that people have planted for their departed loved ones? We were all just horrified. She did call the police but what good will that do.

When I got home, I did take a nap. Slept pretty good too. Roxie likes that. All I have to do is head for the couch and she is right there. She loves to nap with me.

I fixed pork chop and Lima bean casserole for our supper. Haven't had that in a long time and it is really good. Very simple too. You mix a can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup with a package of frozen green Lima beans and grate in some Velveeta (not easy to grate, but you don't have to be fancy). Put three or four pork chops in the bottom of a baking dish, spread the Lima bean mixture over the top. Top with a can of French fried onions and bake covered for about an hour, then take off the cover and bake about 15 minutes more.

Tonight I cleaned off my desk. I have a whole folder of things that need to be taken care of tomorrow, but did get rid of a lot of stuff. There is still too much on my desk but at least I have a bit of a handle on it.

Except for church, I get to stay home for the next two days. I am so glad.

Our newly paved road is a pleasure to drive on. We are no longer dodging holes in the road and the two visitor parking spots are now paved also so they are not mud holes any longer.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.


Love

Mary

Since I took Chelsea out at 10PM or later last night and she was very very "good", one would have thought that I could sleep uninterrupted until at least 4 or 5. But NOOOOO! the little goof came to ask me to take her out at 2:30am. I had to get up at 6AM because I had to do a lot of things before going to take Mother to the Drug Store at 10AM. I vacuumed the bedrooms and made cookies today.

So. I got to Mother's and she was in curlers. She thought that we were going tomorrow. I had said tomorrow but she had Friday on her mind and that was what she planned on. SO. I called Fesslers (Aurora Superior) and we found out the Barb, the person that was going to help us get Mom's supplies, was sick today anyway. SO. I am going to call the drug store at 9:15AM to be sure that Barb is there and then I will call Mom and start out to pick her up. This afternoon she called me again. Dr. Hancock's nurse had called her and he wants her to have another blood test. Apparently, the first one shows that she is a bit anemic and they want to confirm this. We are going to stop at the Clinic on our way home from the drug store for the blood test. This could be some of the reason that Mother is feeling so much more tired these days. Perhaps a regimen of extra iron will help to rectify that.

Home again, I parked the car back in Lion's Park parking lot. I need to go get it soon. They seem to be done with the paving and it has been long enough that I should be able to bring it home. As I walked home I stopped to visit with neighbors, Tom and Rita Engel. Tom filmed a lot of the paving for his grandsons. They are 2 and 5 and nutso over trucks. He is able to film in movies and stills and will show his grandsons on TV this weekend. The workers even waved for them.

I liked this crew. When Chelsea and I set out at about 4 to get the mail, one of the workers stopped is roller and called to me to pick Chelsea up as the blacktop would be too hot for her little feet. Wasn't that sweet?

That is really the end of the busy things that I did today.

Now is the time to just settle down and do nothing for the rest of the evening.

By the way, Dr. Murthy's nurse called and told me that the MRI shows that there is a small tear in the meniscus of my right knee and that I need to make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. So I called the Orthopedic department and Dr. Fehrman will call me early next week after he looks at the MRI. I feel better in that I know that there is something real wrong and maybe this time it will be something that can be fixed.

Take Care

Mary

What a day. It started early (6AM) and is finishing late (for me anyway, it is 10PM already.)

It was raining when Chelsea got me up at 3ish but had stopped by the time I finally got up. I did all the morning things with cats and dog and showering and all and then drove over to Mc Donalds. Dick and I had decided to have Mc Donalds breakfast because it was grocery shopping day and we always had breakfast out when we shopped together. We will do that again some day.

After breakfast, I did go grocery shopping. I got home to find that Dick and Chelsea were napping, so I put the groceries away and made the phone calls that I needed too. Mother called. The colostomy supplies she needs are at Fessler Drug store and she has to go in to pick up the first batch because they need her Medicare info and her signature. After that she can just call in her order. We are dealing with a gal named Barb who was very helpful for Dick when he got the elastic stockings that he needed. SO I will take her to Sheboygan tomorrow to take care of that. Tomorrow they are blacktopping Tallgrass Lane so I parked the car in the parking lot at Lions park. They are doing it in such a way that we CAN get in and out but I would really rather wait until everything has settled before I drive over it.

AT 11:15AM, I went to Plymouth Aurora to have an MRI done on my knee. I don't have a lot of hope that they will find anything, at least anything they can fix for me. I am being told that I am a very young and healthy 69. Yet, I have side aches, neck and arm soreness and my knees are really sore. The diagnosis so far have been to tell me what it is and say. Live with it. I am taking Tylenol twice a day for the aching. I wonder if it would be worse without that.

We had meatloaf sandwiches and soup for lunch. Then Bobbie came over and we mixed up two more batches of wine for her. She is trying bay leaf and grapevine. They both smell really good. The other two that she has working are settling nicely and are still fermenting. Sunday she will be back to do the next steps on these last two and will help me finish adding to the White Zinfandel.

Tonight was the Celtic Women meeting. We went to 52 Stafford for dinner and the music. It was very pleasant but we decided that next time we will dinner somewhere else where it is quieter and then go over to the Stafford for the music. We will do that any time that the 17th lands on a Wednesday when Stafford has the pick up band playing.

There were 13 of us there which is a good turnout and we all had a lot of fun. I ordered corned beef and cabbage and brought home enough corned beef for lunch for Dick and me tomorrow.

Well, that covers the day. I will hear about the MRI by Monday, I would guess. Hope they find something and that something can be done. I have not had a good long walk for such a long time. I walk until it starts hurting then turn back. The doctor said that walking won't damage anything but it isn't any fun walking when it hurts.

Take care and enjoy your Thursday. We are supposed to have dry weather until late in the afternoon, then thunderstorms are rolling in. I will be back home and hopefully will be able to get the car back into the garage.

Love

Mary

Would you believe that Chelsea got me up at 2:30AM? I had some trouble getting back to sleep but then did not wake up until 6:40AM. Kitties were a bit miffed because their breakfast was late.

Chelsea and I had a reasonable walk. I was able to go a bit further than I have been. My knee actually did not hurt too badly till later in the day today.

Dick had his therapy at 11:00PM. We told them that he had not walked on Sunday or Monday because of that funny little blister that kind of dried up and then peeled. Dale, the therapist, and Tim, the prosthisist, looked at the foot and said that it looked really OK and that he should be walking. UNTIL he walked for the first three minutes and when they checked his foot, that area was shiny. Shiny is not good. Dale said that I had a very good eye.

SO - we followed Tim back to his office so that he could do some corrections to the shoe. Now, for the next few days, we will inspect, walk and inspect again to see if the corrections have fixed the problem.

We got home at about 12:30 and had a lunch of meatloaf, potato salad and beets. I took a short nap before going over to Just Jane's for my haircut. I zipped over to the Sewing Basket to get some thread and stopped at Walgreens on my way home to get Dick's prescriptions.

I have spent a chunk of the day trying to figure out how to scan a packet of papers from my HP6400 into Picasa as one file. I can do each sheet individually but should be able to do them through the feed as one file. Oh Well, I will try again tomorrow.

Bobbie is coming over tomorrow to mix up another batch of wine. I hope that it is time to mix the rest of the addins to the White Zin. Then she can help me with that. We will see what the specific gravity is at when she gets here.

It will really be a busy day. We decided that we are going to get Mc Donalds for breakfast as it is grocery shopping day.

Have a good evening.

Love.

Mary

After my three o'clock jaunt with Chelsea we finally got up at 6AM as usual. I had a couple of calls to make before leaving for bible study.

I also had to stop at Walgreens on the way. I thought Dick had a prescription ready but have to stop again tomorrow. It was not a wasted stop because Mom needed vitamins and we needed batteries.

There were seven of us there this morning. We are still discussing the Sunday readings but I had Lynn order the books for the study of the Gospel of Mark that we will start as soon as they arrive. The readings today were from Job, Paul and Mark.

Job was getting chided because he was complaining about things and God told him to remember who made the earth and set up the boundaries for the ocean and the waves and, after all, who is in charge. Mark was about the trip out on the water with the disciples when the storm hit and they got scared. He was a bit exasperated with them. He said "Why were you terrified? Don't you have faith yet?"

At the end of this I will put an email that I received this week that fit in beautifully with the Gospel. Oh Heck, I'll put it here.

Cherokee Legend

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him
alone.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he does this, he must not talk about it.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad
must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified.
He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him.
Maybe even some human might do him harm The wind blew the grass and
earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the
blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his
blindfold.

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next
to him.

He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone.
Even when we don't know it,
God is watching over us,
Sitting on the stump beside us.
When trouble comes,
All we have to do is reach out to Him.

Well, enough of that. I stopped at Mom's next. Jeff was there. He took Mom for her doctor's appointment today. We all reviewed what she wanted to ask the doctor. I am hoping that Jeff and Dr. Hancock can bring her closer to agreeing to have someone in with her in the mornings when she sometimes gets weak.

I had lunch with my friend Peggy. Peggy's husband is a resident at Plymouth Care and was across the hall from Dick for most of his stay. He is now on palliative hospice which is for those not really near death who need help and their caretakers. Peggy said that they have been invaluable for her since they came on. They go to the staff if she sees problems or if they see problems. I got a bruschetta pizza and was it ever good.

Home again. One of my calls was to Mike the appliance repair guy. Had two things. The vent hose thing had come off of the dryer again. He fixed it and put a metal clamp on which will hold better. The icemaker was not working on the fridge and he fixed that too. Boy, I hope that is the last of these appliance mishaps.

We had chicken, potato salad and beans for supper. Then I picked up Kate at 6PM and we went to Mead for the second part of a four session event called Sheboygan Reads. It was a panel discussion on Self-Publishing. We learned quite a lot. I was impressed that the book featured in the program "The Green Steed" by Betsy Jones Michael was published by Sun Graphics. Terry Evans, owner of Sun Graphics, his graphic designer, a graphic designer named Gary Shaw and Betsy's marketing specialist were on the panel. Kate wrote down their names and I will get them from her as I need to know them.

So now the day is over and it is 9:45PM. Not too bad considering all that managed to get packed into it.

Tomorrow we go to Dick's therapy in the morning. And will see what they think about the foot.

Take care and sleep tight.

Mary

I was home ALL day today. What a nice situation but I had way too much to do.

Got up at 6AM and after shower and everything took Chelsea for a nice walk. We got quite a ways down the road before my knee started to hurt. We had scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast. Then Dick went down for a nap and slept until noon.

SO. I spent the morning catching up on the computer. My desk is mainly clear. I have to prepare a couple of envelopes for mailing and get a few items up from downstairs for a Wednesday meeting.

I made a meatloaf for our lunch, we had fried potatoes and beets for side dishes. I have enough potatoes and eggs to make a potato salad for tomorrow's supper. Tonight we had some leftover dump soup and egg salad sandwiches.

Tomorrow will be a day mostly for me. I have bible study, lunch with a friend and a program at Mead Public Library tomorrow night on Self Publishing.

I will stop and see Mother after Bible Study. Jeff will be there as he is taking Mom to a doctor appointment at 11:30AM. We are really trying to encourage her to consider having someone there in the mornings when she gets up. That is when she is weakest and it would be safer for her and make us feel better.

Jim and Michelle called this evening. We were so glad. They are through with their training at work so are now fully in their new positions. They are settling into the community and are learning their way around. They are going to start taking classes as they were in Oshkosh so are busy people. AND they have found a couple of acceptable Coffee Shops in the city. Whew.

It was so good to hear their voices and know that they are well.

That is all for now. Soon it will be time to go to bed. I will take Chelsea out and make sure that all water dishes are full.

Til tomorrow.

Mary