A full day. I didn't get up until 6:30AM. As you can well imagine, Roxie was a bit irritated but forgave me when I fed her.

Chelsea and I had a lovely walk. It had rained during the night and everything was clean and fresh and it was a bit crisp which is always pleasant walking.

I picked up SHARE today at 9AM. The rest of the morning was spent here, blessedly. I made a fruit salad We got a really sweet cantaloupe from share and my dear friend Janet gave me a small watermelon. It has yellow meat. I have seen them in the store but never ate one before. It is sweet as can be. I added a few blueberries from the Easy Blueberry Pie that I made this morning too. I almost forgot about that.

Actually we have lots of main dishes to eat but I needed side salads etc. So now tomorrow, I can just serve what we have. I am going over to the Lemkuil's tomorrow to harvest marigold blossoms for a batch of marigold wine. If they are available, and Bobbie is coming to make her wines so I have help, I might as well go for it. That is such a special wine. I just remember to check the recipe to see what I will need to finish it.

Bobbie and I met at one o'clock at Southside Alliance Church for the Sheboygan County Quilt Guild's annual Quilt show. It was really very good. Lots of beautiful quilts, lots of vendors. The baby quilts that are the guild's big project are hung all around the balcony above. (The guild has sent over 2300 quilts to Children's Hospital, since they started the project.) We had a great time hopefully getting reved up to get quilting again. I saw Lucy, a local quilter/teacher who said that there is a Plymouth Quilting Group that meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the Plymouth Library at 1PM. I think I will join them.

Did I mantion how irritated Roxie was Thursday night because I was so late coming home? During the night when Dick got up and was sitting at his desk, she walked over to him, put both paws on his shoulder and just Yelled right into his ear. She wanted him to know how upset she was. In this mix, I am the provider of food etc, the servant, but Dick she adores.

Anyway it was a nice weekend day. Fun and busy. Now is the time to wind down for the night and get to bed at a good hour. I have been wishing that perhaps I could stay in bed a bit longer in the mornings so I don't want to stay up late.

Love.

Mary






The following was in the Sheboygan Press today. I liked it enough to share.



Man Laws

-- No man shall ever turn down free beer... for any reason. Never. Ever. Seriously, Never.
-- Grilling, regardless of weather, is always the first choice for cooking.
-- Hiding your beer in the fridge is strictly forbidden. Besides...sharing is caring.
-- A man should never be denied the right to adjust himself or place his hands down his pants under any circumstances.
-- A man should never tell another man that his zipper is down. It's his own damn problem and you never looked "there" to begin with.
-- While at a sporting event, you must walk "B to F" (BUTT TO FACE) when leaving your seat. This is so you do not miss any of the cheerleaders' performance (since you obviously never get up to pee while the ball is in play).
-- If you are placed on the Jumbotron at a sporting event, you are to offer a simple wave or raise of your glass. Acting like an idiot is strictly forbidden. A man should act like Barry Sanders... you've been there before and will be there again — show some class. Exception: You have more body paint on than clothing. In that case — go for it.
-- A man is permitted to build his "Man Cave" in anyway he wishes. However NO "Man Cave" shall ever include: A fridge incapable of holding a case of beer, "Fat Free" potato chips, and any variation of the color pink.
-- A man purse is still a purse.

Today was a day of mixed blessings.

Dick and I each had appointments at the Plymouth Aurora Clinic. I spent the morning cleaning bathrooms. It is nice not to have to do the floors.

Dick had his appointment with Deb at the Anti-coagulation clinic. I told you that Dick has been taking antibiotics for about 2 weeks now. He should have called Deb right away. Antibiotics can goof up the coagulation levels and boy did they. You know how the count is supposed to be between 2 and 3. It is now at 8. He is really really thin now. SO, he stops the meds for the next couple of days and Deb will retest him on Monday. No blood thinners for three days should drop him back to at least close to normal.

My appointment was with Dr. Fehrman. I told him all my concerns. He checked my leg and says that all is OK. He said that because he repaired two tears AND smoothed out the arthritis, it will take several months before the pain is gone. The good days and bad days are normal as my knee readjusts and heals. He assured me that I cannot damage anything and should just keep exercising as I can. If it hurts too badly, I should just rest for a day. I am to see him again in two months unless the pain is gone by then. So I just have to keep working at it.

Dick and I then went to the Wilderness again for lunch. Dick wanted a perch dinner again. I ordered liver and onions and really grossed him out. It was delicious liver and onions and I have enough left for a nice sandwich tomorrow.

I solved a couple of financial puzzles today and worked on CWI papers.

Then this evening Nancy picked me up and we went to shoot pistol at Rhine. My first two were rather disappointing but the last one was OK. Doc said that it scored out at 57 so that will take the sting out of the other two. Nancy and I visited with several of the other people before heading home again.

The weekend looks pleasant. I am going to the Quilt show with Bobbie tomorrow and Mass in the evening. Sunday I get to stay home all day and rest. Yippee.

Take care and I hope you enjoy your weekend too.

Love

Mary.

Today was spent traveling to and from Fort Atkinson with Lee and Janice Lemkuil and Bobbie and enjoying a super production of The Sound of Music. The Fireside always puts on a great show and this was no exception. The players were all good but I especially enjoyed Gary Lindemann who played Captain Van Trapp. He brought tears to my eyes when he sang Edelweiss. The children were talented and cute.

We had a scrumptious meal of a great salad, pork chop with gravy and dressing with sour kraut in it, Sweet potato casserole and Sacher Torte for dessert.

The play was a little longer than the usual and then traffic got a bit heavy between Johnson Creek and Miller Stadium so we did not get home until a bit after 7. I had Bobbie call Dick when we got to Milwaukee to tell him we were running late, so he wouldn't worry.

Now I am vvery tired. Roxie was waiting at the door when we got here and was very annoyed with me. After all, dinner is expected at 4:30PM and it was 7PM. What was I thinking. Dick said that she was bugging him too and that is why he was hiding in the bathroom when I got home.

Hope your day was as pleasant as mine. Til tomorrow

Love

Mary

Chelsea slep til almost 4AM this morning. I was quite pleased. I went back to bed, of course, and got up a little after six. These mornings it is becoming very hard for me to get up in the mornings. My nights are good, except for spending some part of them getting my leg comfortable and not achy.

Anyway, I left at about 8:30 to do the grocery shopping and banking that had to be done. I had to stop at Pick and Save too because the Pig did not have prosciutto, and I need it for the Braciole de Manzo on Sunday.

The rest of the day I was able to stay home. We had pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy and salads for our dinner. I tried to nap this afternoon, but was really not able to settle down. Hopefully I will really sleep soundly tonight as I have to drive to Ft. Atkinson and back tomorrow. It will be a fun day..

I watered the indoor plants and took care of preserving by freezing some zucchini, tomatoes and a banana that I did not want to go to waste. I also cleaned the kitchen counters.

Tomorrow, the cleaning lady is coming to vacuum and clean the floors. I told them just to ring the bell and walk in as I will be gone and Dick can't get to the door fast enough. I think I will leave a note on the door too because I worry.

Today is my brother Randy's birthday. I remember his baptism. Michael Deeley, my Uncle Jack's son, was his sponsor. I don't think Michael had ever seen a newborn baby in his life up close. At the celebration at our home after the ceremony, he held Randy and examined him. He kept marveling at the fact that everything was there. The perfect little fingers and toes with fingernails and all. Those of us who had had little brothers and sisters coming every couple years kind of got a lesson in the miracle of a baby.

I remember also some friends of mine, Dave and Dixie. When their first daughter was born, Gigi, Dave pulled the car over on the way home and unwrapped her from her little blankets and just kept saying. "Nobody weighs 6 pounds." Another man in awe of the miracle.


Love

Mary

It was a pretty good day. We had to be at Dr. Moreno's at 9:45AM so that he could check Dick's wound. We have pretty good news. The wound in way reduced in size. He is having Dick take one more regimen of antibiotics. I will dress the wound twice a day until a week from Thursday when we see the Doctor again. He was pleased with the improvement. He was concerned that Dick's foot was cold. I am very much relieved. If it is healed in two weeks, I will believe that we are over the worst.

The rest of the day I caught up on phone calls, baked some sourdough bread, organized notes for CWI and met with Shea Goodenow here. I met her at the Celtic Mass. She is a new member of Blessed Trinity. She has also joined the Bible Study. What she wants of me is this. She sings Norwegian folk songs in the native tongue. She spent a couple of years in Norway working and going to school and apparently fell in love with the music. She can translate them literally but this doesn't always convey the meaning. She would like me to take the literal translation and try to reword it so that it can be sung with the old melody and tell the intended story. We are starting with a lovely little lullaby.

As we were talking today, she told me that she is the daughter of Marian Stewart. Marian was a reporter on the Sheboygan Press and knew Dick quite well. She was also on the library board for a while, so knows him quite well. I met her a couple of times and liked her a lot. Anyway, Shea is her daughter.

Now I am watching Dancing with the Stars. The women are dancing tonight. (Roxie is being very clingy and loving tonight. It is not easy typing with a cat cradled in your arms.) After the show, I will vote and then take Chelsea out and go right to bed.

Tomorrow the only chore will be grocery shopping with a side trip to the bank. I need to get rested because the next day I will be driving to Fort Atkinson. I am going to input the address in the GPS tomorrow. I already printed out directions from Travlocity.

Take care and enjoy your evening.

Mary

 

Isn't this the cutest picture. Roxie went over and just curled up next to Dick with her head resting on his arm. She is such a sweetie. Reminds me of things that Zero used to do.


Chelsea is back to waking up between 3 and 4AM. But that is OK. I managed to get back to sleep and got up at 6:30AM. Not too bad, I would have liked to snuggle in for a bit longer but there was a busy day looming ahead.

I left the house at 9AM to go to my Monday morning bible study. We had a new person join our group, her name is Shea and she is also wants to join CWI so she is quite the find and a really charming delightful individual.

We read and discussed the passages in Mark where Jesus apparently embarrassed his relatives because the crowds gathered so heavily that nobody could sit down and eat. Just like today, nobody likes to be a spectacle and it is SO embarrassing when someone who is related to us acts like a buffoon and someone says, Is that your cousin or brother or son? How would we have been reacting in that situation.?

Then I went to visit Mother and helped her with a couple of prescription and colostomy questions. Jeff called while I was there and is going to take her to the ear doctor sometime soon. That is one appointment that I won't have to arrange. He is such a dear and knows how involved I am with Dick's health right now. We always find time but try to help each other and this will be a big help to me.

I came home and fixed Dick's lunch then went over to Antoinette's to have lunch with my friend Peggy. We met at Plymouth Care Center with the same worry of a husband who needs us. We had a good lunch and a good visit. I introduced Peggy to the Cream City Writers as she also writes poetry. She writes from the heart and is good at it. We went right from lunch to the meeting.

I sang a verse and the chorus from the song I wrote this year based on Paul's hymn in Philippians and I read the Celtic essay that I wrote for the Worship Folder on death. They were well received. We all had to congratulate our president Beverly on the wonderful article that was in the Plymouth Review this week. I will save the article for her and bring it next month.

Home again, I kind of rested, folded clothes and got ready for the CWI telephone conference that was at 4PM. We had a majority and really did get a lot accomplished. Our annual meeting has been rescheduled for Winter. We, the Sheboygan County Branch, will be hosting the meeting in conjunction with our Christmas Tea at the Plymouth Historical Society on December 5. Pray to God that the weather holds.

We had a very successful telephone conference. I have quite a bit to do but so does everybody else. We have come a very long way in the past three or four years, are in the black and have sent three new branch packets out so may have new branches popping up around the country. I am excited as this was my goal.

Dancing with the Stars starts tonight. I am exited. This is one of my favorite shows and gets bigger and better every year.

An I did get to stay home all day today. What a nice day.

Chelsea woke me up at 3AM for a quick outing. She had a heck of a time too. I found myself dreaming that the animals were in bed with me and it took a while to realize that she was trying to tell me that it was time for a potty call.

I got up at 6:30AM. I fed creatures and dressed Dick's wound and then Chelsea and I went for a nice walk in the crisp Autumn air. It was in the upper 40s which is really nice for walking. We really did not see anyone out there this morning. I guess people sleep late on Sunday morning. Except for Chelsea and me.

It was nice to just be able to do things at my own pace here at home. I prepared a couple of long emails, mixed up a sour dough starter, and shucked corn. Then I woke Dick up from his nap so we could watch the Packer game and eat our lunch of corn and tomato salad. The lunch was good, the Packers were crappy. I now am one out of being eliminate in one of my Fantasy football leagues. Two and you are out. Aaron Rogers got no protection and the defense stunk. You can't win with that combination.

We were watching some of the early Cosby shows. When we got to the one about Rudy's goldfish dying and Cliff deciding to have a funeral for the thing, I remembered a story about Bart and one of our goldfish. I went up in the boys bedroom to feed it one day and it was lying dead in the water - broken. I asked Bart about it, he was only about 4 years old. He looked me right in the eye and said, " I bit it." So that was the end of that pet.


He never did anything like that before or after that and was really very unusual. I guess the fish looked pretty and interesting.

In Cosby, Cliff often says, " I brought you into this world , I can take you out." This reminded me of a friend who used to say that her mother always said to her. "You had better shape up or I will rip off your arm and beat you with the bloody stump."

As we delighted in saying this to our children and they would giggle, I don't think that threat had much impact.

Have a good week.

Love

Mary