A Quiet Week, Preparing for a Trip...

Monday, July 21st, okay, I really got this meme Sunday evening. It is sooooo cute! Our theme in Relief Society in 2024 was "Think Celestial", a quote from Pres. Russell M. Nelson's General Conference talk. Someone made that into a meme! Love it!

Claude returned to Dr. Fine, our Podiatrist to get the results of him MRI on he right ankle. His fibula did break in Rome in February 2025. It has healed okay. However, Claude really torn some connective things in his ankle and they are loose. He was given this brace to wear when he is mowing the lawn or we are on an excursion when traveling and he is doing a lot of walking. It fits nicely in his shoe, which I find amazing. He wore it to cut the grass and it worked great. Claude will also have 4-6 weeks of PT to help him strengthen his ankle. 

I finished our arrangements for our trip to Zanesville, Ohio for my 75th birthday. Should be fun. We will experience some new things. I have downloaded a book to read by Zane Gray. I have also found a possible crochet project to fill my down time. I have us booked for three outings on three difference days. We are looking forward to learning a bit more about another city in the United States.

Tuesday, July 22nd, I went out before Claude got his day started. It was a cooler morning, thank heavens. We have a little grass growing in our yard. I took a picture and looked it up on my "Seek" app which identifies plants. It is some type of 'sedge' grass. It is very pretty but quickly grows taller than the other grass in the yard. Seems to do this in patches of the yard and then spreads quickly. It has a shallow root system so I can pull it up easily if the ground has had some rain. I took my little wooden stool and my bucket and dandelion picker and headed out to pull as much of this out as I could before Claude could cut the grass. Once he cuts the grass, I have to wait for it to get taller to find it again. I did this until 10:30am. Claude came out and cut the front lawn to the sidewalk. I had pulled all that part. There was a lot on the front lawn between the sidewalk and the street. I was working on that when he came out. He graciously started to cut the back lawn so I could finish my project. Whew!!

Wednesday, July 23rd, we started our day with a biscuit breakfast. I wonder how many of these we have in a year? Hmmmm... 

Most of my day was spent working on the Italy PowerPoint presentation. Each picture has to be downloaded individually and matched with Claude's narrative on a page. They have to be placed so the narrative fits with the pictures. Lots of thinking and arranging for this older brain. It is good mental exercise but takes a lot longer than I ever figure it will. 

This picture showed up on my Facebook page. It is really an orchid that look like the face of an animal. It is purple so, aside from those eyes grabbing my attention, the color did also. Nature is truly amazing. 

Claude outdid himself making dinner this night. He marinated chicken breasts in Italian dressing over night. Then he baked them. He also made twice baked potatoes and a peas and cheese salad. It was all so very good. We both agreed it was perfection. The mishap came when he took the pan with the chicken breasts that had been baking in the oven out of the oven. The pan was a glass Anchor-Hocking type pan, green on the outside, white on the inside, and just the right size for three chicken breasts. I had been my mother's and I inherited it when we cleaned our her home in Louisiana. We have never had a pan like that break. It was a bit shocking. And very sad, as we loved that size pan for the two of us and it had been a bit of my mother in our kitchen. 

Thursday, July 24th, I awoke at 6am not feeling great. I was awake at 7am and by 7:30am I was hurling like a mad person. It was like I did when we were in Michigan. Claude didn't get sick, so it was not our delicious dinner the night before. It is a grueling experience and leaves me completely drained. I was every-so-grateful for my recliner this day. I did go to my laptop late in the afternoon and sat up to watch two episodes of Northern Disclosure. 

The Marx family was in Chicago to pick up Baileys French horn and visit Hayden. Bailey had her French horn cut so it could be put in a backpack carrier. She was very happy to take her horn to the Bean for pictures. They would take in a taping of the NPR show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell" and visit a Spiderman exhibit.

Friday, July 25th, I awoke before Claude and read two more chapters in the Odyssey. I am getting more familiar with these Greek/Roman gods. I am not sure why I enjoy this kind of reading.  But I do.

I would do laundry in preparation for our trip. I also got a bit further in the Italy PowerPoint. I was back to walking on the treadmill. I missed doing that Thursday because of whatever the illness was. 

Claude had to pick up his diabetic shoes. He gets one pair on new shoes for free each year with Medicare because of his diabetes. They had arrived at J&L. Claude promised to get me a treat if I rode with him to pick them up. He got his shoes and we decided we each would have a taco for our treat. Off to Taco Bell we drove. As we got to the parking lot, Claude asked if I wanted to go in and eat or do the drive-thru. I assured him I wanted to do the drive-thru. As he turned into the drive-thru, he turned to me and said, "Okay, Bailey!" You see, our Bailey prefers going thru a drive-thru and taking food home or eating in the car to going in. We both got a chuckle out of this comment. I sent Bailey a text explaining what transpired with her grandparents. She replied, "AWWWW". Love our grandmonsters.

Saturday, July 26th, this morning we started with ANOTHER biscuit run!! We may have a problem in this area. I am not admitting to that but we just might. 

Katelyn posted this adorable picture of our Kennedi. Oh that grin. It just makes you happy to look at her. So happy when our family posts pictures. 

We picked up Claude's new prescription. His A1C count was up and Dr. Lyon changed his meds a bit. Then home went to accomplish all that needs to be done prior to a trip. 

Katelyn posted this picture of her kids all sitting at the table to have dinner together. This was something I had encouraged her to do and she was letting me know she accomplished this feat four nights in a row!

We enjoyed a quiet evening watching Castle and eating Claude's excellent grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum!!

Facebook, Time with Bailey, and Yard Work...

Sunday, July 13th, in the evening, I came across this on my cellphone. Since our Joel is named Potato, I had to share this with our family. What an original idea. It harks back to the colorful buildings that used to line Route 66. 

Monday, July 14th, I successfully weeded the front yard. I waited until we had a little rain so the ground was easier to pull the weeds out of. After, Claude took me for a biscuit! Yeah!!

Tuesday, July 15th, Claude and I enjoyed a doctor visit date. After seeing our Podiatrist, Dr. Fine, he referred us to their Lexington office. 

Claude would have an ultrasound done on his foot that we thought was sprained when he fell in Rome in February 2024. When Dr. Fine examined it a week prior, he found it actually had a broken fibula. The ultrasound and his X-ray will tell him if Claude needs some kind of corrective surgery or if we should leave it as it has healed. Claude results will be in Monday, June 21st. 

I was to have an ultrasound. My feet are going numb on the bottoms of my toes and the ball of my feet. The ultrasound was to check the blood flow in my legs from the top of my leg to behind the knee to my feet. After the ultrasound, the technician took my blood pressure in each of my ankles. Then she put little blood pressure cuffs on each of my big toes and too my blood pressure in each big toe. Finally, she put the blood pressure cuff on my arm and took my blood pressure there. Then she turned to me and said, "What is your blood pressure normally?" I assured her if I can have a 130-135 over 75-80 I am doing great. I also told her that whenever I go to a doctor's office, it always reads really high. Sometimes going to 180 over 85. I then asked her what she was getting for a reading. She said the top number was 165 and she did not have bottom number. 

I am to have a nerve test done on my feet to see if there is any nerve damage from somewhere else causing this. I have not heard anything yet from the Neurologist. She gave the phone number for that office. I came home and called them. They have the request but the doctor has not read it. They can't schedule the appointment until after the doctor reads the request. So, I wait for that. I have an appointment on August 4th to see Dr. Fine and get results for both of these tests. Hope they give me a call soon!

We enjoyed lunch at City BBQ while in Lexington. 

Wednesday, July 16th, Claude made his plane and car rental reservations for his Class Reunion. He will take a few days while in Utah to visit his family members there. I will not go on that trip. I did make him a hotel reservations for the first two nights. 

We have some strange grass popping up in groupings in our front yard. I went out in the afternoon and pulled all of it that I could find. It has very shallow roots which helps it to come out of the ground easily. It is a pretty grass and actually looks like it make eventually make a little flower. I am sure there will be more to pull as it grows.

This was Claude's brother's birthday. He called Cordell to wish him a Happy Birthday! Cordell is having big trouble with infection in his knee replacement. This is not good. 

The Church is in the process of creating a new hymnbook. I took time to print the hymns they have released and add them to our binder. Three of them are ones Primary is learning and I need them to practice. 

I also crocheted around another baby burp pad. 

Thursday, July 17th, we had more rain the night before, so I was up early and out in the back yard to finish my weeding. I was able to get all the laundry done when I came inside.

Claude took me to Arby's for a good meal. Then we went to Kroger to get some strawberries for Bailey. We finished our outing by filling my car with gasoline. 

When we got home I started working on the August Relief Society newsletter. 

We had a quiet evening at home with three really good rain showers and thunder rumbling all evening long. Bailey called because the rain in LaGrange knocked out their power. It wasn't restored until about 10:30pm. 

Friday, July 18th, I had been have a prompting that I needed to take Bailey out for lunch and then a bit of shopping. I felt I needed to get her a new outfit to wear to college. I mentioned that Claude and he thought it was a great idea. Bailey and I set Friday at noon as our departure time.

We opted to have lunch at McAlister's. I made the exit form I-71 to The Snyder. What I forgot was there is another exit right after that one to actually get you on The Snyder. We were still headed south on I-71 toward Louisville. Bailey set her phone so the ladies voice gave me directions from The Watterson back to McAlister's. Bailey was getting car sick. Ugh. We made to easily to McAlister's and just as I got in the parking lot, Bailey hurled. I keep gallon Ziplock bags in our cars for when we drive the Mini's anywhere. They both are prone to car sickness. No fun at all for them. Bailey had already gotten one of the Ziplock bags and was ready. I parked, Bailey hurled, then we cleaned up. She was ready to eat. We had a nice meal at McAlister's. 

The shopping was to be done a Kohl's. Bailey wanted to look for shorts to wear when the band practices in August out in the heat. I wanted to look for some lounging pants for Claude and a purse for me. We parted ways in the store with the understanding we would text each other when we were ready to meet back up. I actually found pants for Claude and a purse. Yeah!! I found Bailey and she had an arm full of possibilities. I waited outside the dressing room. Nothing worked. Not one thing. I asked her is there was something that she found that she might want to try on. She said she really wanted a flared skirt. We set to work walking the racks to find a possible skirt. She found one and a couple of top possibilities. As we walked back toward the dressing room, we walked through the dress section. Bailey stopped by a rack with all black long dresses. One caught her eye and she took it off the rack. After this time trying things on, she came out and put the blouses on the return rack along with the long black dress. She was happy with her skirt selection. I asked her about the dress. She had actually taken a video of her in the dress in the dressing room. It was gorgeous. She needs a really good black dress for when the band/orchestra plays a concert. This dress would be perfect. However, after trying it one and falling in love with it, she looked at the price tag and decided to put it back. She took a picture of the price tag for her dad to research a less expensive possibility. I looked at Bailey. I thought about the video she showed me. I thought about her Grampa and, if Claude had been there, what he would do. I looked at Bailey and told her to get the dress. We would get the dress and the skirt for her. She was very hesitant. She was concerned her parents would be upset. I assured her I was the oldest and could make this decision. We bought her the dress and the skirt. She was happy.

We went back to the Marx home and cut Bailey's hair. Andie came down and Bailey put on her concert black dress to show her mother. It was so fun to see Bailey's reaction and her mother's reaction. Then they went upstairs to show Michael, her dad (he works from home). Here is our girl in her very special concert black dress. 

This was such a fun outing. Now, about those strawberries! When Bailey was over for her Harry Potter movie fest, Claude caught her eating strawberries. He said something to her and it looked like she may have been concerned she did something wrong. Claude was teasing. He and I talked about it later and decided he would get her strawberries to let her know it was always okay if she ate strawberries at our home. When I left our home to drive to LaGrange, I was part-way there when I realized those strawberries from Claude were in the fridge at our home. Ugh. I stopped the the Kroger by the Marx home and purchased another container of strawberries and gave those to Miss B. 

Saturday, July 19th, I worked some more on the PowerPoint of our Italy trip using Claude's narrative and my pictures. This is always a long process. Other than that, we watched for more rain and listened to thunder in the distance. 

I found this a friend posted on Facebook. I saved it and shared it with our family. This is a study in diligence and dedication. Amazing how clever some people are. 

I did not get but about an hour of sleep. We had dinner on Saturday at Sonic. We love Sonic. Don't go there often as it is a very high calorie/fat content meal. Once in a while we treat ourselves to burgers from Sonic. Their onion rings are the very best around. Alas, that was not the case with this meal. They have changed their burger makeup and mine was just too much. They put cheese on Claude's when asked them not to do that. We each had a small order of onion rings. They were cooked almost to a burnt stage on the outside while the onions inside the breading were mushy. When we finished our meal-of-the-day, we both commented that it really was not that great. Very disappointing when you save your food intake for a good full meal and it doesn't meet up to standards at all. 

Well, I laid down to sleep at about 11:30pm Saturday night. By 12:30am, I was awake with reflux. I got out of bed and found my Tums in the dark and took one to help calm this reflux down. I curled back up in bed and almost went to sleep before the reflux was back and intense. I knew I needed to be sitting up and not laying down. I went to the living room and got in my recliner. I lifted the footrest and covered myself and tried to go back to sleep in a sitting position. After a decent amount of time trying to fall asleep, I realized I was wide awake. I decided to read a bit. I started The Odyssey by Homer. I would like to read that before going to Greece. Still, I was not sleepy. My birthday is coming up. We wanted to take a few days away for that. I made reservations in Zanesville for that and researched and made notes of things we could do. I even booked us on a sternwheel boat tour. Still not sleepy. I researched possible ways to get from the airport in Athens to our hotel and then from the hotel back to the airport. I ended up being away the remainder of the night. Ugh!!

Sunday, July 20th, my alarm went off at 7:30am with no sleep but that first hour. We would go the sacrament meeting. Great talks by little Zeke Christensen and Sarah and James Hollen. I gave the returned birthday card to Jessie Rayburn and the six baby burp pads to Jenessa. Then Claude and I came home to go back to bed. He had worked on the brick foundation he is laying under the shed. He finished it. Hallelujah! However, it requires him to lay on his side on the ground to do the work. It really is hard on his body. Naps were needed by each of us. I typically do not nap.

We would get some lunch for our meal-of-the day and have a quiet rest of the day at home. 

Feet, Family, Books, Chicken Enchiladas & Piano...

Monday, July 7th, Claude and I had a date to see our Podiatrist, Dr. Bradford Fine. Before my shoulder surgery, I was seeing him about every 6 months. I stopped when my world changed to all efforts to heal my shoulder. I am having numbness in my feet and Claude has something on his toes on one foot. This would be Claude's first visit to Dr. Fine. 

The nurse took me directly to their X-ray room to get a new set of pictures of my feet. As we entered this room, I noticed this chair. I had never seen a chair like this. It did amuse me greatly. It is actually sitting in front of a small computer table with the counter for the nurses to stand behind when they take an X-ray. I asked to be sure it was a chair. The nurse confirmed it was a chair but she stated she would NEVER sit on it. Point made. 

I went through my visit with Dr. Fine. He wanted me to get an ultrasound on my foot and to have a neurologist do a nerve test on my feet. As I left the examining room, I paused to get this picture of the odd chair. I sent it to our family with an update of our visits to Dr. Fine and I sent it to my friend Laura. Katelyn told me that Raelyn had a chair like this in school and absolutely loved it. Raelyn in hyperactive and I could see where that amount of bounce would help relieve some of that extra energy in our girl. Andie said they looked at having one in her class but she could see a first grader forgetting and having scissors around it making for a very loud pop. She did not get the chair. Laura and Claude both commented that it looked like ET. Laura also said if you turned around and sat facing backwards it would be like you are riding a turtle. That is my favorite thought on this very interesting chair.

The end result of Claude's visit was that when he fell in Rome and we all thought it was a very, very, very severe sprain...he really broke his fibula. This is a picture I found on the internet showing how it was broken. Dr. Fine said what we did to apply a medicated cream and then bind it with that elastic tape was the best we could have done. It has healed but we are not quite sure how well it has healed. It does give Claude some days of pain still. Claude is to get an MRI on his foot. Hmmmm...

We returned home in time for the electrician to come to do a bit of work for us. He replaced three light switches. They turned on but would flicker out and you would have to flip the switch again to get them back on. Apparently this happens as light switches age. We also needed the electrical box on our water heater replaced. He was able to that as well. Now, electrically speaking, our home is up-to-code!!

I was happy to receive a call from Andie. She wanted to touch base about our trip to Michigan and see how we were doing. It was good to visit with her. We had a nice long chat. She is now starting her teaching of Summer School.

Tuesday, July 8th, I was happy to hear from the private tour I scheduled for us in Athens. We have one day and wanted to make the best of it. They sent us to payment information and also took care of picking us up and dropping us off at the hotel. Yeah!! One more piece of that travel pie is ready.

I am trying to learn a little Greek using Duolingo on my cellphone. As I did this days lesson, I had the word 'potato' in Greek. Since this is Joel's nickname and he answers readily to it, I did a screen shot of that particular page and posted it on Facebook on our family page. You would pronounce it like pa-ta-ta with all short 'a' sounds. Kinda fun for our family.

In the evening, Claude and I went to the Louisville Kentucky Temple. I usually see people I know when we attend the temple. This time I only saw Dorreen Beaver from a distance. I sat in the endowment room waiting for the session to begin and mused that I didn't have anyone in that session I knew. I said a little prayer and started my pondering to be ready for the session. In came a very familiar face. It was Kate Wahnschaff (used to be Watson) from our days in the Georgetown Ward. She recognized my face and came to sit by me. As we waited, in came John Hale with his two sons Porter and Payton. Then Josh Marcum came into the room. Oh had happy was my heart. Each of these boys has graduated high school. They are preparing to serve missions for the Church. I wondered where Michele was. She is Porter and Payton's mother. Then I realized she was sitting on the front row. When I entered the room, I had not even noticed her. Later I realized Marissa Noe was also in this session. She taught Seminary to these young men. It was delightful to find myself in the same session with these good people. I always reflect on life after the death and imagine it will be the joyous to see family and friends again. Just a little taste of how wonderful that experience will be. 

Wednesday, July 9th, this day my big achievements were doing all the laundry and reading my Dan Brown book "Inferno". I finished Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy in preparation for reading Dan Brown's Inferno. I learned even more about the Divine Comedy as I watched this movie and was really glad I took ALL THAT TIME to read The Divine Comedy. Inferno was made into a movie. There are a LOT of difference between the book and the movie. I have one more Dan Brown book to read entitled "Origin" before September. In September, Dan Brown will release his next book int he Robert Langsdon series. It is entitled "The Secret of Secrets: A Novel". I have pre-purchased that one and it will come to my Kindle while we are in Greece. Yeah!! 

Thursday, July 10th, my goal was to get the kitchen swept and mopped and the carpets vacuumed. I realized the plastic container for what is vacuumed up was exceedingly full. It is always interesting for me to try and empty that thing. It is not hard but I have to read those instructions every time. Face it, this home has two fairly old and fairly tidy people living in it. This minimizes the times you need to do certain things that you had to do really frequently when there were lots of people living in our home. I emptied that container and then realized how grateful I was for a really good vacuum cleaner. I am so glad I didn't live in the age when you had to take the rugs out and beat them to get them clean! Yike!!

We treated ourselves to 5 Guys burgers for dinner with a quick stop in Walmart (right next door) to get more toner for my printer. Then it was home for a recliner evening!

Friday, July 11th, I had signed us up to have the missionaries over for dinner. Claude was wanting chicken enchiladas. The recipe makes a huge amount. Feeding the missionaries helped us fulfill Claude's wish for chicken enchiladas and make sure those young men had a good meal that day. I would get up and do my treadmill walking first, then my shower. Claude laid down for a nap and I went to spend my $5 Kohl's cash for my birthday. I found five tops I can wear on our trip to Greece. It is time for me to retire some of my clothing. I have clothes I have would for 30 years. It is okay to get somethings that are new. I found great sales as the store is clearing out their summer things in preparation to stock up for fall. 

I came home and had an hour to rest before time to prep dinner. Claude helped by putting together the Mexican corn and the salad while I put together the chicken enchiladas and set the table. It was a good meal. The missionaries gave a lovely spiritual thought after our meal and then asked us to put our testimonies in the front of a Book of Mormon (one for each of us). They will give these to people they teach. We would do the writing on Saturday evening and Claude would give them to the missionaries on Sunday morning.

Saturday, July 12th, we woke up with me having a desire for Frank's donuts for breakfast. Claude was on board with that so off we sped in his bright green Jeep. Yum!!

I would clear things we had DVR's off the DVR while Claude napped. I also walked my treadmill for the day. Then we had a lazy afternoon and evening. Claude recorded a two-part documentary about Sitting Bull which we enjoyed. I had saved a Hidden Mysteries program that touched on Castle & Key. This is an old distillery near us that is being restored as a distillery and a venue to functions. We went there for a dinner for Bluegrass Tomorrow. Fun to see something that is in our own back yard.

Katelyn told me that Hayden wanted to come visit one weekend. It would appear from the picture her made it. Hayden and Katelyn in this picture. In the center back s a friend of Katelyn's making a funny face. It is so reassuring and comforting to see family members brave the miles between them to have a little time together. 

Sunday, July 13th, I got to substitute as Primary pianist today. Jenny Squire's has ruined her right shoulder and had surgery. She will be out of commission for a couple of months. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Christensen, and I will take turns playing while she recovers. The cute backstory to this is: While we were in Italy in February 2024, I fell and trashed my right shoulder. I knew I couldn't use that hand and was pretty sure from the PT guy on our tour that I would need some kind of surgery. Before we went on that trip, I committed to play the organ for two weeks for Elizabeth Christensen who was traveling to see her other girls. From Italy, I sent a text to Jenny to see if she could substitute for me and explained my situation. Jenny LOVES playing the piano and is superb at that. She also plays the organ but really doesn't enjoy it as much as the piano. She graciously agreed to help me out. Now, a year later, I can reciprocate that kindness by helping Jenny by playing the piano in Primary while she heals. Isn't life nice like that?!

A Weak Week...

Wednesday, July 2, was our first full day home after our Michigan trip. Claude had his appointment with the ophthalmologist and he did a grocery run in the morning. I set to work with laundry and laptop work to catch up on. I got the Relief Society newsletter out and announcement for July to the ward bulletin person. I would get a bit more done on the Italy PowerPoint. I managed to get my Duolingo lesson in. Trying to learn a little Greek. It is amazing what I don't retain! I also found another episode of Northern Disclosure and watched it. In the evening, we watched television and enjoyed fresh corn on the cob. Yum!!

Our son-in-law, Todd, posted this picture of himself. Always good to get an updated picture. 

Thursday, July 3, I had my annual checkup with Dr. Chase Wilson, our dermatologist. I received a clean bill of health and made an appointment for next July. 

While going to the doctor, a truck pulled in front of me. I noticed the Big Foot decal in the back window and thought of Todd. He knows a lady who custom makes these. She made him a special Big Foot decal for the back window of his truck and he put it on while we were there. As I drove behind this truck, I realized he had his tailgate painted with a Big Foot character laying on his side. There is a raccoon in front of Big Foot. I took this picture and sent it to Todd suggesting that he might want to add a Big Foot painting to his tailgate. He was amused as well.

We received the sweetest 'thank you' note from Bailey for her graduation gift. We gave her money and she is using it to get her French horn worked on so it will fold up and go in a backpack case for French horns. This will make it sooooo much easier for her to carry while at college where she will participate in the marching band.

Okay, here is where I went off the rails. I found I had nothing in me. This is NOT normal for me. I had no drive, no ambition, no direction. It felt like I was floundering. I did nothing productive the rest of that day. NOTHING! Claude announced that the next day was Friday and we were going to have a day of doing nothing. Welllll, okay. Thank heavens we are retired. This would have never worked when we were working folks.

Friday, July 4, we slept in. I actually woke up earlier and ached in every joint in my body. I took two Tylenol and went back to bed to let them work in my system. I was still very achy when we got up but not as bad as early in the morning. 

Claude's plan was to have us start our day with a biscuit run to Bojangles. That we did and totally enjoyed ourselves. 

The rest of his plan for the day was to watch Northern Exposure. Which we did. We did not even go outside to watch fireworks. The people who live directly behind us must have purchased all the fireworks under one of the tents at the grocery store. They set off tons. They were very loud, being so close. I assured Claude I really like fireworks from a distance and not right by our wooden fence!!

I did take these picture to post on Facebook to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July.

Saturday, July 5, my goal was to be more productive. The best I did in that vein was to walk on the treadmill for 45 minutes while watching my Truman Madsen DVD about the life of Christ.

At some point my phone did an update and changed the way my eMail's were displayed. I was not at all happy with this set up and spent all morning trying to get it so I was happy with it. This included removing and reinstalling my eMail. When I finally got my eMail so I was happy with it, I realized I had NOTHING on my calendar. We use Google Calendars and I have Claude's entries show on my phone and his entries show on his phone. I spent several more hours trying to figure out why I didn't have any on my calendar entries showing. I was finally able to get my entries to display but I have got Claude's to display. He had two eMail accounts. I got one of them but it isn't the one that his eMail flows from. That one I could not get the password to work. Claude will have to check his password situation out and then we can get his eMail back on my cellphone. UGH!! 

After all of that, I gave up on anything productive. 

Sunday, July 6, we had church in the morning. I actually attended Ward Council for our Relief Society president, who is out-of-town. Then we attended sacrament meeting. After that, I had my ministering interview. Then we came home. I typed up the notes for Ward Council and sent to the Jenessa. We got lunch from Zaxby's. Claude is taking a nap. I am getting my Blog done. I plan another 45 minute walk on the treadmill. It will be a good Saturday. 

I really like to be more productive. This was indeed a 'weak week' for me. But it is okay if this happens every now and then. I must not make it a habit though.

Get Ready, Get Set, Go...

Monday, June 23, we had a week of sweltering heat. Into the 90's the thermometer flew and stayed there. Ugh!! We are grateful for air-conditioning. This showed up on my Facebook newsfeed and I really got a chuckle out of it. Sent it to my kids so they could enjoy the humor. It seems the entire world is in a heat wave. We are headed to Greece this fall. I saw a news headline that the Acropolis was shut down from 1pm to 5pm one day because the temperatures were so extreme that tourists were passing out. Yike!! 

Claude had an appointment in Lexington to see a dentist who specializes in implants. His office happens to be in the same building as Dr. Sajadi, my should doctor. The place on Claude's jaw where the tooth was pulled that had the cracked nerve, was examined and judged healing well. This doctor wants another three months of healing before he put the post into his jaw for the implant process. We were all prepared for Claude to come home with a post and pain. Did not happen that way. So, Claude made good use of his outing and stopped at Lowe's to get special light bulbs for the living room ceiling fan. 

While Claude was gone I did the laundry and got a haircut. Then I worked on setting up our folder for the Greece trip. We booked this trip last July. During that time, I have received and kept eMails in a fold in my eMails, researched and printed things we needed to be aware of, I had Greece files on my laptop and Claude had a folder with files in it. It all needed to be gone through so we could toss what was not needed, see what we did need to have a printed copy with us, see what we needed copies of on our phones, only necessary files saved on the lap top for creating the PowerPoint of our trip when we get home, etc. Lots to think through and process. I would spend Monday and Tuesday getting through this with only minimal things to do after that. 

We had a nice BLT dinner at Arby's and came home to watch television. I was able to crochet a burp pad for a baby girl that evening. I made these so the Relief Society can given them to mom's when they have a baby. We have a sudden influx of young mom's having babies between now and December. 

Tuesday, June 24, was another purposeful day. We started it with a Zoom meeting with our annual meeting with our financial advisor from Strategic Wealth Design. Went fairly quickly and felt good about where we are right now. 

Then I set to work doing a few home chores first. I tend to put these off in favor of working at my laptop. This day, I determined to do them first then treat myself to laptop time. Greece was my focus on the laptop. Felt really good to end this day with a folder that can travel with us to Greece. Lots of stuff to put in as time goes but now it is maintainable. Yeah Me!!

Wednesday, June 25, final day to prepare for our trip to Michigan. Claude brought the suitcase in Tuesday. I packed my clothing part. I prepared three more burp pads to crochet around while we are gone. I like to take a craft project in case I get around to it. Stopped the mail. All those kinds of things so we would be ready to leave on Thursday.

I received a notice on Facebook and was over-the-moon happy to open it. It was a post from Jake. Our son was in Colorado visiting his cousin, Kristi. Jake has taken a really liking and interest in hiking. Last year he made a trip to Utah and hiked a mountain there by himself. Kristi is an avid hiker and biker. She recently rode her bike around the perimeter of Flaming Gorge Reservoir (154.9 miles). It took her 13 hours and 19 minutes to do this. Yep, she is avid. She and Jake have been communicating about hiking. She invited him to spend a week with her and she would help him hike a 14'r. That is 14,000 feet high. There are not peaks like that in Michigan for Jake to try. Jake accepted the invitation and was there all this week hiking with Kristi. On this day, they made it! Jake posted this picture on Facebook with this caption: "Hi all. Here's me and cousin Kristi standing at the summit of Grays Peak in Colorado. She got me up and down before the rain! Great hike, and my first time climbing a Colorado 14er."

Aren't those smiles great?! So happy to get this picture and to seem these young people having a great time and achieving a worthy goal.

Laura dropped by in the evening. She had a gift for me. It was this amazing fan. What a sweet give for a Lady who suffers with hot flashes and has for 25 years!!

We would be packed and ready to leave to Michigan on Thursday.

Thursday, June 26, we had a safe drive to Michigan. We drove through Indiana this time. We did drive through a couple of rain storms but they didn't last forever so we could press forward.

We arrived in Muskegon about 5:15pm at the Pizza Ranch. With texting, I had set up for Katelyn and her kids and Aubrey (Bre) to meet us for dinner. This is always a fun place to eat. They have a buffet for all you can eat. One section is fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Another section is a salad bar. The last section is all kinds of pizza and you pick a slice of the kinds you would like. For dessert they have dessert pizza and an ice cream machine. Everyone can find something they like and enjoy all of it they like. In the pictures starting on the left side of the table and going around are Emelia, Kennedi, Katelyn, Joel, Raelyn, Claude, Sandi is the second picture, and Aubrey Anne. 

After a fun-filled dinner, Claude and I headed to Holton where we would stay with Nissa and Todd for the time we were in Muskegon. 

That evening I received notices on my phone of severe storms back in Kentucky. We were to have had our June Relief Society Activity that evening. That was canceled at the last moment because of these severe storms. 

Friday, June 27, we started our day with breakfast at the Bob Evans in Muskegon with Paul and his new peeps. He is now in a relationship with Destiny. Destiny is the mother of Noah and Rainsley. They joined us and it was good to meet them. Claude was the little boy whisperer. Noah was taken out by Destiny and Paul. Then Claude asked Noah if he would like sit with him. Noah happily went to Claude and they enjoyed eating the ice cubes out of his glass of water. We had a really nice breakfast and visited for about two hours. 

Claude and I then went to the Ropers to visit for the afternoon. Kennedi loves her daddy.

Bailey had given me pictures of her that were made into outline drawings. I made for sets of them and took them for the Roper kids to color. A new box of crayons made the activity a little more fun. (Raelyn, Joel, Kennedi and Emelia)

I shared the pictures I have of the Roper family with Kennedi and Joel. 

Katelyn got home from work and Drew headed to work. We stayed till about 5pm and then headed to Holton.

Todd grilled burgers and chicken for sandwiches for our dinner. Yum! Nissa had Mello Yello for me and Diet Coke for her dad. We had a lovely meal. 

Todd found interesting things for us to watch on television. There is a guy from Michigan that does a podcast of his boating on Michigan rivers and fishing. He is quite the character and very entertaining to watch. One episode was even his dream trip with friends to fish is Alaska. 

Then Todd found some Northern Disclosure episodes for us to watch. This is a podcast of Northern Exposure episodes narrated by Joel (Rob Morrow) and Maggie (Janine Turner). I loved this television show. Claude had not seen any of the podcasts. After watching a couple, he said we needed to go home and watch the shows again. They were a family favorite.

Saturday, June 28, we had the morning to be quiet. I crocheted a baby bib. Claude got a nap. Todd ran errands and Nissa and I talked and she read in her book. Such a pleasant morning.

The afternoon was Drew's baptism. It would start at 3pm. Raelyn would say the opening prayer. Nissa played the piano and I lead the music. Katelyn would give a talk. It was excellent. She compared this process of baptism and joining the church to hockey. Drew LOVES hockey. Claude would perform the baptism and the confirmation. It was really nice to be able to be there for Drew. 

Claude got dressed in his whites and came into the Relief Society room where the program would take place. He showed me his socks. I cracked up. First of all, these are my socks that Nissa gave me. The tops of them are exactly like other socks Claude and I have so they would be easy to confuse with all white socks. Second, they have writing on the bottom that says, "If you can read this, bring me a Dr. Pepper." On My!! 

I loved watching Nissa play the piano. She does such a lovely job. I remember all those years ago when I taught her how to play. She is a natural and I know playing is something she truly enjoys. 

Katelyn made sure she had a few pictures of family. Back row: Drew holding Kennedi and Katelyn holding Joel. Front row: Raelyn and Emelia.

Then a picture of Drew with each of his family members: Raelyn, Emelia, Joel, Kennedi and Katelyn.

Drew with the missionaries who taught him the gospel discussions.

Claude with Drew. 

It was a lovely service. After, Claude and I headed to Lee's chicken to get food for dinner at the Ropers. Nissa and Todd headed home to get Baby. She has to stay in her pen when they were not home. It has been unusually hot and they wanted to give her a break from being in the heat. The missionaries were supposed to join us. They had to cancel as one of them actually had a severe case of poison ivy and needed to go to urgent care. We enjoyed our Lee's chicken with the Ropers. The kids ate really well. There was enough left to take some home to the Tylers.

As we were driving home, I started to feel very bad. As soon as we got to the Tyler's, I left Claude to bring things in from the car. I hurried to the bathroom. I ended up with two hurling sessions. Not a fun time. No one else was sick, so it definitely wasn't the food. I simply have trouble with digestion every now and then. I was down for the evening.

Nissa was kind enough to do a load of laundry for Claude so the baptism clothes could be clean and dry to take home.

Sunday, June 29, Claude and I planned to attend sacrament meeting with Drew and Katelyn. I sent Katelyn a text at 8am telling her we would not make it. I was still not sure I was settled enough to be away from the house. We spent a quiet morning. 

Drew had a hockey game at 2pm. Claude really wanted to see this. I ate a slice of bread for breakfast and had a little trouble with it but knew I was on the mend. I simply would not eat anymore while we were out. We decided to drive to the hockey game. It was an hour away. Drew loves this game so very much. He plays on a league of guys who didn't make the pros but really want to play. They have enough teams to form this league and they play regularly. It was fun to watch Drew. The kids love the freedom of playing on the sidelines. 

Claude, Emelia, Raelyn, Kennedi, Katelyn and Joel.

I put a little red dot under Drew in the pictures. He is number 17.

We sent Nissa a text when we were leaving the arena. We wanted to take Nissa and Todd to dinner. They wanted to cook pasta. So, we let them fix us a pasta dinner. They like to make spaghetti and not put a tomato sauce on it. Instead, they cook the burger and veggies and add them to the spaghetti with a little Italian dressing. Pretty tasty. 

I set to finish reading The Divine Comedy by Dante. I have been working on this for a good while now. I am reading all the Robert Langston books by Dan Brown. The fourth one is titled "Inferno" and references Dante's Inferno. I determined I would read The Divine Comedy before reading Dan Brown's Inferno. I learned a lot about this book. Dante is guided through Inferno (34 chapters, which are called cantos), Purgatory (33 chapters) and Paradise (33 chapters). Most people are familiar with the Inferno portion. Dante is guided through this journey by three people. The first is Virgil. Then Beatrice. Then St. Bernard. Virgil guides him through all of Inferno and most of Purgatory. Beatrice finishes Purgatory and most of Paradise. St. Bernard finishes Paradise. There is a lot of Christian belief mixed with Roman and Greek gods and lots of history and the characters from history. The language uses lots of older terminology. I learned a long time ago to read using the punctuation. If you read this poem a line at the time, all meaning would be lost to you. You need to read it from to a comma or semicolon and pause to get the meaning of a phrase which may cover several lines. Honestly, I didn't understand all of it but I did understand a lot of it. I actually enjoy trying to read something that is epic and old like this. It is a bit of a challenge and I like the flow of it. When I finished reading the book, I went to the living room and told Claude I finished. He asked if it was funny at the end. I assured him there was nothing funny about this book! Now, on to Dan Brown's Inferno!

I used these two pieces of art to help with reading the Inferno part. 

Monday, June 30, we started the journey home. The intent was to go all the way home.

We first stopped at the Amish store to purchase cheese, bread and cookies. On one of their walls was this piece of artwork. I really liked it. 

We went through a couple of rain storms but made it to Chelsea, Michigan about 1pm. Along the way, Claude suggested we get a motel and spend one more night on the road. I agreed. There were more severe thunderstorms forecast for Scott County and we really didn't want to drive in that madness. I got us a room at the Comfort Inn. I sent Jake a text and assured him he did not have to entertain us but we did get a room for the night. Jake returned from his trip Saturday and we didn't know what he needed to get done on his day off before returning to work. 

We picked up Jake and gave him his cheese, sour dough bread and cookies, then we went to the Mexican restaurant for a nice meal together. 

Jake suggested we take him back to his apartment. He wanted to spend some time at Starbuck's working on his laptop. We would check into our hotel and text him the room number. This would give us a check to rest a bit and he would join us later. This was a great plan.

Jake came to our hotel room with his laptop in tow. He would share with us pictures of his trip to Colorado. I will share those pictures at the end of this Blog. He had such a great time. He took us day-by-day of his adventure. Kristi laid out a plan for what they would do and they were able to do six 14ers. These are mountains over 14,000 feet tall. This was a big goal for Jake and Kristi and he achieved it. We lived in Denver when Jake was a little boy. We moved when he was in second grade. This was a fun time for him to reflect on that growth from the little boy to the made making it to the top of the mountain. It was a delight to enjoy this adventure through his eyes and pictures. 

We ended our visit with a trip to the ice cream stand. Yum! So good to see Jake and listen to his plans for the rest of 2025. 

Tuesday, July 1,  We slept in and were on the road about 10:30am. As we left the room. I noticed the note left by our housekeeper. I sent this picture to our family saying it must have been kismet for us to stay Monday night. Our Katelyn spells her name the same way!

We wanted to shop at Cabela's in Dundee, Michigan. This is a huge store. We were both successful in finding some needed clothing items. I loved their 4th of July decorations in front of the store. 

We stopped in Florence at Chipotle's for dinner and then drove on to Georgetown. It is always good to drive in and see the house still standing and not tree limbs down after big storms. 

This was a lovely trip. So good to be there for Drew at a big moment in his life. So nice to build memories with family. 

I will end with pictures of Jake's Colorado Trip. He stayed with Kristi for the week. He was able to see Kristi's brother, Dan, one of the days. He also got to meet Kristi's daughter Skye one day. Enjoy these fun pictures!