I found out something very exciting today. Our printer can print two sided copies. Boy am I ever delighted as I am putting together a chapbook of poems for a contest at WFOP, Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. It is quite exciting now that I can do it all here. Then If I decide to print more copies, I will take a disc to Sun Graphics and have them print and assemble it.

So I spent some of the day working on my writing.

I did a bit of shopping and picked up some pills for Chelsea this morning. It was terribly cold today. It was 0 degrees when I woke up. It did get up to the low teens and the sun was shining, along with the moon which is always odd. So this afternoon, it WAS bearable but I still was not really thrilled with running in and out with Chelsea. Old ladies just have to go potty too often.

I went to Mass at 4PM. It was a nice mass, an early celebration fo the Feast of the Three Kings as the church has moved it from the 12th day to the second Sunday after Christmas. This feast was the original reason for the 12 Days of Christmas. It is special to us because it is the first time Jesus was revealed to the Gentiles in the persons of the Three Kings.

We had good old Hamburger Helper for dinner this noon and then that great bean soup that I made earlier this week for supper. Then I froze some of it and put a container in the fridge for eating during the week. I managed to pop the lid of the container that went into the fridge. It ran down the back and I ended up having to clean the whole bottom half of the refrigerator. Never have been very graceful.

Tomorrow, I should be able to stay home all day. There is a prescription at Walgreens for Mother, but I can pick that up on my way to Sheboygan Falls on Monday. HOME. All day. What a joy.

God love you

Mary

The last day of 2009. WOW!

I was home all day except for going to Mass this evening. I spent the day doing various chores around the house. The front driveway needed to be shoveled. If there is less than an inch, the association does not take care of it. I did not want ice to be forming under it in the next few days. Actually it is supposed to get down to 2 degrees or less tonight. I am glad that I will be home most of tomorrow too.

Tomorrow, I will be taking supper to Mother at about 5PM. I called her today to confirm this. She sounds so weak. I will sit with her tomorrow when I bring her meal to be sure that she eats. She admits that her appetite is rather poor but says she does eat three times a day and is going to try to have a snack mid afternoons to help keep her strength up.

We had leftovers from Sweet Basil for our lunch and bean soup for supper. Boy is that bean soup ever good. If you want to share just come over for a meal in the next few days.

So Mass was nice and also short. I saw several friends and was able to wish them a Happy New Year.

A good portion of my morning was spent researching home care for Mother. Hopefully we can get someone in to help her in the mornings in the next week or so. The holidays will slow things up a bit but we will get it done and at least during the holidays she has a lot of people checking on her.

Love and God Love you

Mary

The second last day of 2009. I was, as usual, quite busy. Got up at 6AM and did all the usual morning stuff plus helped Dick get washed up and changed. Then I went to the Pig and did the grocery shopping.

When I got home, I put a pot of bean soup on to cook all day. It is done now, except for stripping the meat off the bone, and tastes wonderful.

I took a nap this morning because I was going to the Amputee Support Group meeting at Rocky Knoll at 2PM. We had sandwiches and jello salad for our lunch. I had a mushroom and cheese and Dick had a grilled cheese.

The Amputee Support meeting was fun. We played card bingo. That is an easy game. You have two decks of cards and deal one out. Then the dealer called the cards on the other one until there is a winner with the hand you are dealt. We had lots of little prizes so played three whole rounds to use up the prizes. It was fun and we shared and talked a lot.

For some reason we got to talking about kids and I remembered an incident from Bart's toddler days. He was probably about three or four and wandered over to the neighbor's house because he saw her coming out and going towards her car. He asked her where she was going and she teasing him said. "I'm going to hell, want to come along?" That was the wrong thing to say. Bart immediately turned towards home yelling all the way "Mom, Mom, can I go to hell with Beverly." Poor Beverly chased him all the way trying catch him. We laughed our heads off and had to do a lot of explaining to Bart. He still didn't know why he couldn't go to hell with Beverly. He didn't know what hell was.

We got a wonderful Christmas present today from Leslie and Bill. Framed portraits of Bill and Leslie and also of Nora and Sara and a picture of the girls with their fiances. They are wonderful and we are so pleased.

So. Have a safe and fun New Years Eve.

God love you

Mary

Another busy day. I spent the early part of the morning, walking Chelsea about 4 times and cleaning underneath the sink.

I had to be at Mother's at 11:30AM to meet with an insurance man with her so I stopped at the bank and the vet's on the way. Mom and I got a lot done and she gave me another assignment. So tomorrow I will be making some calls to gather information for her. She would like someone there in the mornings when she wakes up and is getting ready for the day as she feels weakest then. I applaud her as it is hard for her to admit that and to give up a part of her privacy but she is an intelligent woman and wants to be in her home as long as possible.

I got home shortly after one PM and just puttered around and tried to take a nap. The nap did not work too well, but I did get a lot of little things done.

Now I am watching at least part of the Kennedy Center Awards and then I will go to bed.

A friend sent me an email that amused me. I will add a couple of the quotes that were in it for you.


Mary

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not
pleased to read the description in the catalogue: - 'No good in a
bed, but fine against a wall.'
Eleanor Roosevelt


<><>
We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its
way through Congress.
- Will Rogers =2 0

There were only four of us at bible study this morning. Tom and Kathy are on their way to Texas, one of the Helens is still recovering from surgery and Peggy is in Florida. Joe did not make it. And of course our Fran's funeral was this evening.

We had a nice study but veered off of the subject to talk about Fran and what she means to us. We all agreed that she certainly went the way we all would like to. She just collapsed and was gone to God. Much better than lingering in pain as many do.

Then I went over to Mom's and we had a nice visit. I told her that my friend, Beth, knows the woman who bought our old house. It is a woman with two children an she is fixing it up. That made Mom feel good as we lived there for over 50 years. It was amusing because the new owner was told by someone that she bought the Deeley house and that it had always been red with white trim. It is gray now but she went outside and found that there is red paint under the gray. She was also told about our "bombing" by the army when there was a base at Haven.

The planes went out over the Lake one winter evening and one of the planes ejected at least three of its pieces of live ammunition on the City of Sheboygan Falls.

Our family was all gathered in the lower level of the house shortly after supper, except for my brother Tim, who had gone upstairs. My boyfriend at the time, Jumbo Martin, was there for the evening too. Suddenly we heard the loudest crash from the upstairs and thought that Tim had knocked something really big over. But when we went upstairs, there was Tim, looking into the left back bedroom and there was dust and debris flying all over the place and a hole in the ceiling that came right through a beam.

There were also two or three gouges in the floor. After searching, we found under the bed what looked like a very large bullet. So we called the police. They came and took a report and the bullet with them.. Dad and the police were all handling it very casually. Later, we found out that it was a live piece of ammo.

Later, we also found out that a home in another part of town was also hit, right next to a baby crib and a small fire started. Another shell was found in the street. Miraculously no one was hurt.

The Army did an investigation. I don't know the final results but they paid for the repairs on the house and gave Dad a model of the plane and a unloaded shell for a souvenir. It was altogether an exciting time. Dad fixed the roof and ceiling himself and had money leftover for something, I am not sure what. And one day a special delegation of officers came to the house to personally apologize to Mother for the incident.


And that is the story of the time our own Army bombed us.

Tonight I went to Blessed Trinity to join the choir at Fran's funeral. She looked lovely. And we sang as best we could as she was in the choir forever and loved the joyful music. It was a beautiful service and I am glad I could go.


God love you

Mary

We got to stay home all day today. It was cold but not bitter cold. Chelsea and I were able to have a couple of short walks and she was happy except for one when the sale on the road made the pads of her feet hurt.

Then, I really upset her because I decided to give her a bath bot the wash off the pads of her feet and to clean her bottom which was quite dirty. Now she is the prettiest girl in the whole neighborhood. As we all know, she really prefers to be dirty.

The Packers won handily today and have clinched a place in the playoffs. We really enjoyed that one. My fantasy football score is looking OK. I won't win the week but am at least not out of the running like last week.

I cleaned off my desk today. We have to rearrange things to accommodate the new big screen monitors that we got for Christmas. If these are the only problems we will have the rest of the year, we are blessed. And is it ever nice to be using those big screens.

I scraped the snow off the front driveway this morning too. We are supposed to get more flurries and I am hoping to avoid ice patches. And I did three loads of wash including our sheets so I got a lot done. But I did not feel rushed and spent a lot of time just goofing off and I even took a nap.

Tomorrow will be a bit busier. I will have bible study in the morning and then go over to Mother's. Then in the evening I will go back to Falls to sing in the choir for Fran's funeral.

So we are heading downhill to the end of 2009. The news shows are morning shows ate already doing their recaps of the year. Almost every day, one gets another perspective. I remember when I was a little girl, I always thought, when it got to the year 2000 I would be 60 years old and now I am almost 10 years beyond that. Sixty seemed very old at that point. Doesn't seem so old now.

God love you

Mary