A Full Day...

Monday, Oct 27th, started at 6:30am.  Up and got ready for my Primary presidency meeting.  Left the house at 7:30am and arrived just in time for my 8am meeting.  

Met with the ladies until about 10:30am.  Good meeting.  Covered lots of things and left prepared to carry on for a few more weeks with Primary.

Went to Walmart.  I had a few things I needed to purchase and was able to get that done.

Next to the Church to put up the November bulletin boards in the Primary room. 

Finished with that a little earlier than anticipated. So I opened the book Hayden gave me to read and read two chapters.

Next a quick stop at Kroger to do Papa's grocery shopping.  I made the grocery list when I visited him on Sunday.  Then to Papa's apartment to put the groceries away.  I also took him a new chart to record his weight each day.  I made a second chart for him to record his daily chores like meds for him and Tiny and meals for him and Tiny.  He is forgetting these things sometimes and he thought my suggestion of doing a chart to record when he did them would be helpful.  

Papa had a doctors appointment.  This doctor we used to have to go into Lexington to see. However, he has now opened a satellite office in Georgetown, so we didn't have to drive to Lexington. We were very happy about that.  We left his apartment and went to the building with the correct street address.  The office was supposed to be in Suite B of that building.  I had Papa stay in the car while I went in to be sure where Suite B was located.  If it was in the back of the building, I would drive around so Papa didn't have to do that walk.  Inside I found a door with a B on it.  I went back outside and told Papa to come in.  We were 15 minutes early. The voice message on my phone reminding me of the visit said to be early so we could fill out any new paperwork needed.  However, there was no answer when I knocked on the B door and it was locked.  We found chairs to wait for 15 minutes.

At 1pm I went back to the B door, which was still locked,  and knocked long and loud.  No answer.  I went back to our chairs.  A lady came out of the A door and I asked her if she knew if Dr. Slabaugh was going to be in.  She said his office was behind the A door.  I told her my address said he was in Suite B.  She said that entire side of the building was Suite B.  Papa and I entered the office and filled out the paperwork and began our wait for his appointment.  

After a few minutes, the lady opened the glass above her desk and said, "I'm so sorry to tell you this but Dr. Slabaugh is running 30 minutes late.  I assured her that would not be a problem.  Papa needed a blood test due to the warfarin he takes.  Dr. Weckman is right near the office we were in.  She smiled and was very happy we could fill our time that way.

Got Papa back into the car and drove over to Dr. Weckman's office.  Found a spot near the door.  We went in and got Papa's blood drawn.  Then I paid his co-pay and we headed back to Dr. Slabaugh's office.  We were shown to an examining room.  Before long Dr. Slabaugh came in and asked Papa a few questions.  Then I left the room so he could do an exam.  Then Dr. Slabaugh told us Papa needed a PSA test and he didn't draw blood for anything in this satellite office.  He does in his Lexington office, not in the Georgetown office.  He wrote a request for me to take to Papa's doctor for a PSA test.  Geez...

I got Papa back in my car and we drove back to Dr. Weckman's office.  No good parking spaces this time.  I left Papa at the front door and drove up the little hill to a parking spot.  Just as I pulled in the spot the nurse from Dr. Weckman's office called me to tell me what Dr. Weckman wanted Papa to do after getting the results of the blood test for the warfarin.  I told her I was in the parking lot and headed in for another blood test for PSA.  We laughed.

We got the PSA test done and got Papa back into my car.  He rode with me to Goodwill to drop off a donation.  Then I said I would take him home.  He said that was fine.  He just didn't want to go anywhere they were going to take more blood from him.  Poor guy!!

I got Papa home and gathered his laundry to bring to my home.  When I went to put the laundry basket in the trunk I found a shoe. One shoe.  Hmmmm...  Back to Goodwill I drove.

I told the girl who opened their donation door as I held up the shoe, "This is not exactly the glass slipper. But it will work better if it is with the other one I donated just a few minutes ago."  She smiled and chuckled with me through all the piercings on her lips and nose.  

I headed to Sadieville.  This was enough of a day for me.  Still had lots to do when I got home but truly all those errands out and about were a full day in and of itself.  

Boos!!

Spent the night with the Marx family Friday, October 24th. This allowed us to go to Yew Dell Botanical Gardens with the Mini's for Boo Dell.  Each year the week prior to Halloween, Yew Dell hosts Boo Dell.  The local business owners each set up a banquet table, decorate it as they please, and then they give candy to the children as they walk through the gardens.  Clever idea.  The Mini's have gone several years.  This would be Claude and my first time to Yew Dell.

Bailey was dressed as a witch.  Hayden was a character from Ninjago.  Here are some pictures of our fun afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween is for the young.  We older people just get to come along for the fun of watching them have fun.  Claude and I should go back and visit this lovely garden in the Spring.

Cheers!!

Miss Bailey participated in a cheer leading camp this year.  If I understand it correctly, Oldham County High School has the camp as a fund raiser each year.  There is one day that little girls come for a small fee and the cheerleaders teach them some cheers and send them home with a sheet with the words to the cheers typed on it.  The little girls practice the words and the moves.  Then, the football game held the week of fall break the little girls come and cheer with the cheerleaders for the first half of the football game.  This includes being on the field when the players enter the field.  This is heady stuff for a little girl...and of course her family and grandparents.

Claude and I left Friday, October 24th, in the afternoon to get to LaGrange so we could watch Miss Bailey be a cheerleader for the Oldham County Colonels.

Each little girl was given a t-shirt and checked in at table on the track around the football field.  Then a cheer leader walked them down the track about halfway down the field. 

Once all the little girls showed up, they got them in a circle and did some little cheer where they ran each girls around the circle and focused on each one of those little girls.

The girls then started some cheers to build enthusiasm in the crowd before the game began.

When it was time for the football players to come onto the field, the cheerleaders took the little girls by the hand and lead them onto the field so they could form two lines for the players to run through. Bailey is the sixth person from the right in the front line.  

The game began.  Cheers ensued. At one point it was clear Bailey wanted something.  She talked to the cheerleader on her right. Nothing happened.  Bailey waited just a bit than she talked to her again.  This time that cheer leader went to the head cheerleader and said something to her.  The head cheerleader went to the sidelines where their sponsors were and said something to them.  Then she went back and started a cheer.  We believe Bailey remembered one of the cheers, it had not been performed yet, so she made her little voice known that it needed to be done.  It was.  Amazing.

The other cute thing occurred when the referees made what the Oldham County fans thought was a very bad call.  Lots of negative talk and yelling from the fans against the referees.  Bailey was stunned and not happy with their negative participation.  She looked at the crowd and yelled, "That is not nice.  You are not supposed to do that."  Of course, there was so much happening it really made no difference to the crowd. But it did our hearts good that Bailey knows what is good behavior and what is not and is willing to make a stand for what is right even if there are lots more people than you and they are older than you.  Good things to see and know from a little child.

At one point I looked down where we first sat and where the guys were still standing.  It was so cute watching Michael, who loves all things sports, explaining everything to Hayden. 

Each little girls was given several opportunities to be lifted up by the cheerleaders.  Andie is in the green coat taking Bailey's picture. 

This is the group photo. Bailey is on the front row to the right of center.  She is the one with a white pom beside her legs and she sits in front of the white line with a grin on her face.

Bailey did a great job.  She knew most of the words and lots of the moves.  Not bad for only one rehearsal.  She totally enjoyed herself and we totally enjoyed watching her have fun.  It was great to see the confidence with which she approached something new.  Cheers!!

The Orchard...

I had a hankerin', you know, a craving, a yearning.  Maybe it is fall, leaves changing colors, the opportunity to wear sweat shirts and jeans sometimes.  I just really, really needed an apple, cinnamon, sugar donut from Evan's Orchard in Georgetown.  I mentioned this and Andie, our middlemost daughter, said she would like that as well.  And, as a bonus, our youngest grandmonsters, her children, were on fall break from school.  We were able to set a time on Wednesday, October 22nd, to meet a Evan's Orchard.

The Mini's are totally on board with Evan's Orchard.  They have an amazing playground. The Mini's have always had a great time playing there.  Claude had meetings in Frankfort that morning but thought he could meet us a little after noon and we could enjoy lunch there.  Plans in place.  Action.

It is such a fun place, the Mini's were eager to play and not eat.  So tickets were purchased for the play area and off we went to burn some Mini energy.  There is a new play item this year.  It is called the Pillow Bounce.  Hope the pictures give you an idea because I cannot find words to describe it.  These pictures make me wish I had, had a brother when I was a child.

 

 

Then there were the old favorites starting with the rat racer.

 

 

 

 And the brightly painted tires to climb and jump on.

 

There was another new feature called the Duck Races.  I thought this was a very clever use of gutters and water pumps and big tubs and rubber ducks.  

 

 

We did pause long enough to get some lunch. Claude was tasked with purchasing the donuts and apple cider to bring home.

I left before the kids wore out.  Wednesday is the day I take Papa to the nursing home.  He doesn't play and sing anymore but he does take a DVD.  There is so little he can do to feel he is contributing to life that this is a really important thing to take him to do.  So I left to take Papa to the nursing home.  After the DVD finished, Papa and I drove to Dairy Queen and met Andie and the kids for something more to eat and an ice cream treat.

At Dairy Queen, Hayden positioned himself by Papa with a book to share with him. Hayden is a hugger.  He must have needed a hug because at one point he just stopped what he was doing, turned to Papa and gave him a big hug.  Now, Papa is alone and doesn't get lots of hugs.  He was very surprised by this quick movement but totally enjoyed this hug from his great-grandson.  Cute moment. Hayden hugged for a nice long time.

 

After our treat we headed to Sadieville for the evening.  The Mini's wanted to ride in Ma's car.  This was not a problem as Andie had their little car seats which are very easy to move from one car to the other.  We first took Papa home.  Hayden wanted to talk Legos with Papa for a bit. Bailey plundered among the guitars, mandolin and violin. They both think Papa's apartment is a very cool place.

I loaded them back in the Buick and headed to Sadieville.  My car did not come with a sun-roof but we had one put in right after we purchased it.  The Mini's like for me to pull the ceiling of the car back so the extra light can come in through the sun-roof.  I didn't realize they didn't know that the glass would also open.  I told them it would do that and as we drove up I-75 I pressed the magic button and the widow slid back into the ceiling of the car.  They were so impressed and excited. They kept raising their little hands to reach up and feel that breeze coming in through the sun-roof.  Then we reached the garage and Bailey wouldn't get out of the car till she stood up with her head out the sun-roof.  We called Andie to come see her daughter and Bailey pretended she was the princess in the parade they see in LaGrange every year.  We could have created a bit of a problem here. 

Craving fulfilled.  Grandmonster time an added bonus.  Not a bad 24 hours.

A Few Items to Remember...

This year's Senior Center Chili Cook-off was Wednesday, October 15th.  We returned from Utah about 12:30am that morning and Claude had to have his chili entry to the Scott County Extension office by 10:30am.  Knowing this timing would be short, Claude prepared his chili before we left for Utah and froze it.  However, he froze it in the big pot he cooked it in.  When we got home from the airport, the first thing we did was turn the oven on to its lowest setting, put the pot in the oven, and then go to bed.  Fortunately, the pot of chili thawed easily this way.  Claude did not win with his entry this year but several of the ladies working the kitchen said his should have won.  He was happy with their comments.  Judge Lusby won this year.  This picture is of Jared, Claude and Judge Lusby chatting it up before the judging. They do have fun with this event.

Saturday, October 18th found Claude and I both outside doing yard work.  It was cloudy and very cool.  I wore an extra layer of clothing.  My job was finishing up the final weeding before winter sets in.  Claude was removing a tree that fell while we were in Utah.  It landed on his retaining wall and knocked a few blocks out of it.  Claude was very pleased it fell.  He was not looking forward to taking it out with his chain saw.  He was able to lift it over the retaining wall, put a chain on it and, with the aid of his trusty Jeep, pull it to the wooded area on the empty lot we own next to our home.  Then Claude set to trimming some of the trees on our hill.  I finally told him we had done enough and we needed to go inside.  I was chilled to the bone and only a very hot shower set my body temperature right again.  It was such a good day to have two old people still able to work hard in their yard for many hours.  I liked that a lot.

Sunday I taught the sharing time lesson in Primary.  The lesson plan suggested showing a picture of a family.  I determined to show a picture of my family when my kids were Primary age.  Since we have only lived here 10 years and all my kids are grown, the kids in Primary really don't know my children or have any idea what I was like younger that 64.  So I held up the picture and asked, "Do you know who this is a picture of?"  In senior Primary, one of the kids said, "That's your family."  I asked how she knew.  She said, "I recognized your husband."  Cracked me up.  My hubby has a full beard and mustache which he has worn since getting out of the Air Force.  So that is pretty clear.  Me, they didn't recognize at all.  I had long brown hair with no gray hairs at all.  Plus I was a lot thinner.  I just found it very amusing.

Claude invited me to speak with him at the Camino Branch sacrament meeting Sunday afternoon.  I chose a talk I loved that complimented the talk Claude was assigned.  The talk I worked from was given by Elder David A. Bednar in 2013 at a CES Devotional.  It is titled "That We May Not Shrink".  I pared it down so I would give it in about 7 minutes.  Claude and I each had 15 minutes to speak but we don't speak Spanish so another person would translate for us.  We get him a copy of our talks several days ahead, he reads them and then notes in the margin the words that he needs help changing from English to Spanish. When we  give our talks, we read a portion of the talk in English, then he says it in Spanish.  Therefore, I only need 7 minutes of talk to fill the 15 minutes time slot.  Just before the meeting he came to Claude and me to be sure which talk each of us was giving.  He showed us my talk and said, "I'm guessing this is her talk and the other is yours."  I responded with, "Does it sound a little girly to you?"  We chuckled and he said, "No, your talk uses the $5 words."  I assured him those were Elder Bednar's $5 words and we both laughed.  It was good to sit and listen to Spanish again.  Doing that makes you pay much closer attention as you try to understand and then feel the Spirit of the talk more.  Good experience.

Today I am sitting at the Family History Center covering our shift.  I'm using my time to catch up on my Blogging.  There is only one patron here today.  She is working on Swedish records.  She is not a member of the Church.  But she comes every now and then to do research in the Family History Center.  She turned to me and said, "Why would a Parish Priest put six exclamation marks at the end of an entry on a Church record?"  I asked if it was a record of baptism or marriage or something like that.  She said she didn't know because it was in Swedish and she can't read that but she can recognize the exclamation marks.  She said, "He must be a happy priest!"  We were silent for a while.  Then I asked her if their letters were like English letters so we might type them in a document and ask for a different language to translate it.  She said the letters are formed differently so we couldn't do that.  Then she said a funny comment.  She said, "It is sort of like the old tale of the lady who lost her glasses.  The lady said, 'I lost them in the garage, but I'll look for them in the kitchen because the light is better there!'"  I thought that was a very fun comment.

Now I'm caught up...again...May see the Mini's this week and then there will be more to Blog about I am sure.

More Accolades...

My Big Guy just keeps on keepin' on.  He has embraced his retirement in a very active fashion.  During the last month these two things have happened.

First, he made the Kentucky Cities magazine.  About the third page you find this full page picture and the beginning of the article. 

Then, to continue with this honor, he was sworn in on October 9th as the 2nd Vice President of the Kentucky League of Cities at their annual convention.  This simply means he will be the president in two years. Claude is the second from the left in the picture below.

Not bad for retirement?!?!

In Memoriam...

The weekend of October 4 and 5 were to be a quiet respite from life.  Claude's birthday was October 4th (Saturday).  General Conference was to be broadcast on BYU-TV on Saturday and Sunday.  I was still not feeling well at all.  Claude and I looked forward to a quiet weekend with tablets at the ready to take notes as the General Authorities spoke and to receive birthday phone calls from our children. Grateful for another two days to work on full recovery, we nestled in for the weekend.   That was the plan...

When I awoke Saturday morning, there was a text message from my sister asking me to call her as soon as I could.  There is a two hour time difference between Kentucky and Utah so I opted to send a reply text stating I was up and ready to talk whenever she got up Saturday morning. 

The first session of General Conference started.  We were about 30 minutes into the session when my cell phone rang.  It was Junie.  Claude put the DVR on hold while I took the call.  It was apparent immediately that Junie was struggling to talk through tears.  She was telling me her youngest child was not with us anymore.  It was heart wrenching to listen and find words of comfort and understanding with this news.

Junie told me that Mike was found dead when she and Steve returned home.  It was a suicide.  Mike suffered with paranoid schizophrenia.  The last few years have been particularly hard for him.  This is a relentless illness.  Junie didn't anticipate a funeral for Mike until the next Saturday and probably not before noon that day to allow her other children to get to their home.  

After speaking with Junie, Claude and I determined we would both fly to Utah.  We called Bonnie to be sure she would be home so we could stay with her.  Then I got airline tickets and a rental car.  I sent Junie a text and gave her our flight times and told her we would have a rental car and would stay with Bonnie.  Junie sent back a message of deepest gratitude for our plans.  She really wanted some of her family there.  Our family is not nearly as large as Steve's family.  Our mother has passed away, Papa can't travel like that. So Junie was particularly happy that Claude and I would be there.  I assured her we would come directly to her home from the airport.

The week was full of setting things in order for an impromptu trip.  I did send Junie a thought each morning via text to help lift her spirits a little.

Friday morning, the 10th of October, Claude and I left for the airport by 6am.  We had a direct flight to Salt Lake and the pilot got us into Salt Lake 13 minutes early.  Claude and I were grateful our luggage made it with us.  We headed to the Enterprise Car Rental to pick up our car.  They were buzzing with people picking up and returning cars.  The young guy came over to us and said he had two choices for us.  They were a Jeep SUV of some type and a Dodge Challenger.  I was very amused at my hubby who replied without hesitation and about a split second after the young man gave us our options that we would take the Challenger.  This seemed to stun the young man helping us.  He didn't know Claude drives a Jeep every day.  The Challenger would be a fun change.  We have had three rental cars this summer and this would be the best of the lot.  I took a picture of Claude by the black challenger when we picked up the car but we took this one Saturday as we left Bonnie's to go to the funeral.  Claude in his black suit and sunglasses by his black car.  I called him the Man in Black (after the movie Men in Black).  He said I should caption the picture, "Don't push the red button." which is a line from the movie. It was a fun ride for both of us. 

We stopped after we got off the Interstate in Bountiful to get some lunch before going to Junie's.  There was a 5 Guys Burgers and we thought that would make a nice lunch.  After eating our lunch we went back out to the car and couldn't get it to start.  It was a push button start, which we don't have on either of our cars.  After a few minutes, Claude remembered he had to put his foot on the brake or something like that before pushing the start button.  Worked just fine.

When we got to Junie's she just hugged me and wept for a long time.  It was one of those moments in time that we are so grateful for.  Hugs and tears can often be the very best therapy.  Junie had her oldest two children staying with her.  Kristi and her three girls as well as Steve.  I have only seen Kristi's oldest child when Kim, her sister, was married in 2000.  Needless to say Celeste is a little older now.  It was fun to meet these sweet girls and to see Kristi again.

Junie was working on a huge poster with pictures of Mike throughout his life.  Steve, her hubby, was out getting copies of other pictures for the board.  I was able to help her a bit with the pictures.  She had also made 200 CD's of Mike's music.  He was a very talented musician.  Claude and Kristi helped put them in sleeves and make a display to encourage guests at the funeral to take a CD of Mike's music.  Claude and I left to go get double-sided tape to help with easily mounting the pictures to the board.  After finding the tape, we went down a few doors at the shopping center to a Deseret Book store.  We don't have one of these in Kentucky and we decided we would take a quick turn.  I sent Junie a text that we had the tape and would meet them at the mortuary for the family viewing.  Here is a picture of Mike sharing his musical talents while playing guitars with Papa when Mimi was in the nursing home.

The family viewing was a good choice.  This was a difficult funeral in many ways.  This time for just family to be together without others being around gave each person time to begin to adjust and to take the edge off the initial reality of Mike's death.  Junie asked me to take some pictures of family.  These are a few of these pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the viewing we were all invited back to Junie and Steve's home.  Kim's little girl was having a fussy tummy so Claude and I went in search of ginger ale for her.  We stopped at a 7-Eleven and they had none, nada, zippo, nothing.  The closest grocery store was the next exit down off the Interstate.  I found a few bottles at a Walmart there.  By the time we got back to Junie's, thirty minutes had passed. We delivered the ginger ale, said a few words and then pointed that lovely rental car toward Thatcher Utah.  Bonnie greeted us with homemade chicken soup which was superb.

Saturday we were able to sleep in a bit which helped with the time change.  We went directly to the Church in Bountiful where a viewing would be help one hour prior to the funeral.  The viewing started at 12:30pm and the funeral was to start at 2:00pm.  

The service was beautiful.  I had been asked to offer the opening prayer.  Tough to keep it together but made it through.  Kristi played a piano solo.  Steve spoke.  He is Mike's father and he did a masterful job of sharing what Mike was really like as a child and then explained his 'condition'.  Mike didn't accept the doctor's diagnosis and so, to respect Mike's opinions, the family always called it a condition.  Steve referred to it in that manner throughout the remainder of his talk.  He read from a letter Mike wrote to his cousin.  It was just a beautiful tribute to Mike.  Kim sang a solo with violin and piano accompaniment.  The siblings were each asked to say a few words and they each spoke from their heart. Very tender. Then Steve's brother, Rich, spoke.  Eleven years ago his son took his life.  He had the perspective needed to offer counsel and comfort.  It was a beautiful service.  The Relief Society served a lunch for the family.  We all enjoyed funeral potatoes.  I took a few more pictures.

 

 

We went back to Junie and Steve's home and had a nice relaxed visit.  Junie was clearly exhausted emotionally and physically. But she was happy to have this day end with children and family near.

Sunday was spent in Thatcher with Bonnie.  We slept in.  Then attend church with Bonnie followed by dinner with the family that were able to be there.  

Monday we slept in a bit.  Then we went to Brigham City to see the movie "Meet the Mormons".  Excellent for non-members of the Church as well as members .  Then we drove up Ogden Canyon to The Oaks for dinner with Claude's sister, Lynette, and her family.  Brian entertained us by talking like a minion.  I was able to capture this on my cell phone video and send it to the Mini's to enjoy.  

Tuesday morning Julie and Cordell dropped in for a final chat. Then Claude and I headed back to Bountiful to meet Junie and Steve for lunch at Paradise Bakery.  After a wonderful lunch and a good visit, we were off to return that great rental car and find our gate at the airport.

This was a good trip. I was so very grateful to be able to visit with Junie and Steve and support them at this very difficult point in their lives.  It was good to see Bonnie and have time with Claude's family.  

Mike was a wonderful nephew.  You know how you can read in people's eyes what they are really like.  Mike had good eyes.  He had a winning smile.  There was so much good about him that just radiated.  He was given a huge trial to bear in his short life.  And, as Kristi, his sister, said during his funeral, "We are all given something to live with.  Mike did good."  And he did.  From the impish littlest brother in the family, to the teen with long beautiful natural curly blond hair, to the young man with musical talent, he was such a good person.  I will post a few of my pictures of this wonderful nephew.  Love Ya Bunches, Mike!!