So the first day of 2011 is coming to an end.   It blew in like a lion and the cold winds have been shaking the house all day long.  From almost 50 degrees yesterday, it dropped down to 13 degrees today.  I slept until almost 8AM.    Of course, Roxie was at my ear yelling at me at 6AM for her breakfast.   She had been bugging me earlier, but at 6 she really got insistant.

We spent a very quiet day.    I finished the last block for the block of the month for the Kettle Quilters.   We watched the Rose Bowl Parade and the Rose Bowl Game.   I went to Mass at 4PM so now I can be home until Monday morning.

I tried a Thai chicken recipe for our lunch today.   It turned out really good and I used the last of the coconut milk to cook the rice.   It also came out tasting really good and was a nice complement for the spicy Thai meal.  We also had fresh asparagus.    What a way to start the new year.    I liked it.

I hope your day went as well and that you are going into the New Year with as much hope as we have.

God love you

Mary

This was a very interesting day.  I spent part of the morning trying to get a xls file to print.   Yea.   I did it.   It is a contract for one of the places that we will be staying in Ireland.   Bobbie, you will remember the Jury Christchurch Hotel.   Remember the wonderful fish lunch we ate on the benches in front of Christ Church.   When Bobbie and I were there, we had a view of a roof.  When I went with Fr. Mike Moran and the gang, I had a view if Christ Church.  I took a picture out of the window.    I am going to concentrate on pictures out of windows on this trip.   They are really unique.  I used one for my book Fragments.

I went to join the girls for lunch but nobody was there.  I guess I misunderstood that they were not going to meet until AFTER the New Year.  No problem.  I picked up lunch for Dick and me and we really enjoyed it.  I also went to the bank and send the deposit for the CWI trip to Ireland at Jury's hotel.    Then I went to Walgreens and picked up some cough medicine for Dick and envelopes as we are running low.   I found a device to snake out in a sink without taking our the stopper.  The drain in the master bathroom is slow and I have tried everything else.

So.   It was a busy but lazy day.   Jody got the house all cleaned for another week. So   We are all set for 2011.   Are you?   Quiet an exciting year for number people.  It will be 2 - 1 -2-11.   They like those repetitions.  

If anyone has tiny empty plastic bottles for water from holy wells, I would appreciate them.  I checked at Walgreens and they want almost 2dollars for them.   Goofy.

Happy New Year.   I will be in bed early because I am very tired, but we are going to put Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year on and perhaps I will wake up for it.


Your are all in my thoughts and in my prayers. 

God love you

Mary

Hello all  This was a day almost all on the run.  I left for the Pig before 8AM so that I could get all the grocery shopping done and the food put away before 9:30AM.   It worked.  I did not need to buy too much this week which helped a lot.

We got Dick all ready for seeing Dr. Sharon before eleven because we had to be there by 11:30AM.  Bobbie arrived at 11AM to help get him there.   I wish I had not hurt my ribs .   It is distressing not to be able to do everything that I want to do.  But I can't take a chance on hurting myself again.  Dick is checking on motorized wheelchairs.

 The appointment went quite well.   We had Dr. Sharon check out the sores on his leg and a toenail that is loose and just general questions about things.   Dick is in basic good health.   All of his blood tests and vital signs are good.  So we are quite pleased.  

We stopped at Subway for sandwiches for our lunch.   I had made a fake crab pasta salad to have along with it.    The whole meal tasted good.    I was able to make the crab salad because I could share with Bobbie.   Dick doesn't like it and neither does Bill but it is worth making it to share with each other.

I took a nap this morning and then went to pick up a prescription for Dick.    We were really lazy and had sub sandwiches for supper too.    Not a bad idea.   They were still good.

Tomorrow I will go to see Mother.  It will be interesting to see how she is settling in and feeling.   I will let you know.   I know that nothing untoward has happened because I would have heard.

It was lovely today.   The sun was shining, no wind and it got up into the high 30s.   What more can we ask in December in Wisconsin?

God love you

Mary

Mary

A day mainly at home again.   It was trash day and that took quite a bit of the early morning.  I had five bags and a big box of cardboard plus two dead plants.  Dick and I are always so grateful when all the trash is taken away every week. 

Today we really spent time on Dick with his bath and legging changes and hair washing as over the weekend it was just hit and miss.  So we are all caught up.   I got my hair cut this afternoon and went to the bank and the drug store.

That was the most excitement.    I was busy all day as we are still putting things away and have not even started putting away the Christmas decorations.   I always like to leave them up until after New Years Day.   So much time is spent getting ready that I hate to end it too soon.  I also caught up on the washing.

It was sunny and rather pleasant today.   It is supposed to get even warmer as the next couple of days unfold.   As we have to take Dick out tomorrow, I am really glad about that.   Mild temperatures and no precipitation makes an easy transfer.   I am really glad that Dr. Sharon is doing his physical tomorrow.  I have a couple of really interesting questions for him.

We are watching the Kennedy Awards tonight.   It is hard not to watch the whole Minnesota/Philadelphia game but there are too many great people being honored on the Award show and so far we hare not being disappointed.

Til tomorrow then.

God love you

Mary

One would think that now that Christmas is over things would settle down.   But there seems to be this aftermath that is keeping life quite active and tiring.

This morning, I left at about 9AM to spend some time with Mother.   I stopped at her house to pick up her mail so that we could pay her bills and keep her involved in NOW.   I got to Meadowview just as her occupational therapist came to take her for therapy.   She is mainly in a wheel chair and does pretty well moving herself around with one hand and her feet.   The therapist also worked on keeping the muscles in her right arm strong and flexible.

Mom is surely tired but hanging in there.  I stopped again at her house on the way back home and set out a couple of things that she needs and did the dishes that were sitting there.   Dolores and Ken got the Meadow View just as I was leaving and Dolores is going to the house tomorrow and will bring the needed things back to her.  Dolores is just a block or two from Meadow View which is very useful.

When I got home, we had lunch and I started a bit of wash.   Tomorrow is trash day and there is SO much to go out.   I worked out in the garage sorting boxes to see what I should keep and what I should dispose of and getting the trash bags ready.   It will be a record.   5 bags and a big box of cardboard.   Whew.

Tomorrow is a quiet day except for a hair cut and a trip to Walgreens in the afternoon.

Perhaps I can feel that I am ahead of the game again.  


Wednesday, Dick has his physical scheduled with Dr. Sharon.   I hope we can find out why he is not sleeping and what those sores on his leg are.   The salve he prescribed is not healing them.

So. That is today.   Only three days left in the year.  Where is time going.

God love you all

Mary

What a wonderful day.  I woke up at about 7:30Am.   Took my shower and got the normal morning things done before I left for church.  Mass started at 9:e0AM.   It was a nice mass.  No choir, just a cantor, but the church was full and Fr. Van Beck gave a wonderful sermon.  He talked about family.   One of his statements was wonderful.   He was talking about family as it is Holy Family Sunday.   He has done a lot of counseling in his years as a priest.   He said that one thing he has never heard in in years as a councilor is  " He tells me that he appreciates me too much."

Dick and Brenda gave me an upgrade to my computer.  The thing is that it did not just involve the upgrade but they had to do the installation and trouble shooting and I had not been updated for years.   They did not get out of her until well after 4 PM. We sent them off with a snack and a thank you that somehow expressed our gratitude.   How wonderful it is to be so looked after.    So far, the upgrade is seamless from my point of view.

Everything is behaving as it should and much faster.  They have informed me that I can no longer have my computer kitties wandering around the screen as they take up too much space.   Since I have my real life Roxie, I can put up with that. 

We talked to Leslie and Bret today so have connected with all of our offspring for the holiday.

I have a really great quote for you that my brother Jeff and his wife Kathy sent to me today.   I felt it conveyed the season.

PEBBLE

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas
if you stop opening presents and listen.

-Bobby (age 7), submitted by Kalea, Chico CA

In this strange goofy wild and unsettled world, we have to stop and listen for the peace and the message.

God love you

Mary

 




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