Saturday, May 21st, we slept in as late as we wanted. I would work at my laptop labeling pictures and getting the pictures that others took in my files and labeled. We read scriptures together. In the evening we had the Saturday evening session of our Stake Conference. We left home about 4:30pm to go to dinner at Steak and Shake in Lexington prior to the conference. Then we attended the conference. Big thunderstorm while in this meeting. Back home we came between storms. We curled up in our bed and watched a little television before getting some rest for the night.
Sunday, May 22nd, we attended the Sunday morning session of Stake Conference. Claude and I would sing a duet for that. We sang "Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire" from the Men's Chorus section of the old blue hymnal. You see, Claude sings bass. I sing alto and drop to tenor when it gets to high in the alto parts. We opted for the men's section as it is written in the tenor range. I just sang the melody in the tenor range. We sounded strong to me from where we stood in front of the pulpit. After conference, I received a couple of text from friends saying we did well.
We each napped when we got home. Then I spent time working on my Blog and pictures. We decided to watch the Harry Potter movies again. We made it through three of them this evening.
The Roper family were able to watch their exchange student, Mai, graduate.
Monday, May 23rd, I had an appointment with Dr. Fine to check the progress on my toe healing. It seems to be doing well. I am to continue soaking it once a day in Epsom salt water, then apply Vaseline and a band aid for one more week. I go back to see him in three months. Claude drove me to this appointment as I am very dizzy when taking the meds for the food poisoning.
After we finished at Dr. Fine, we went to Bojangles for a biscuit before driving to Sunset Memorial Gardens. There was a document they couldn't give me until after the funeral. We got there a bit early and check on the gravesite first. They had the vase with my parents flowers on the grave next to theirs. I moved the vase. We picked up the paper and were on our merry way.
While I was at the doctor, Claude took a check to reimburse him for things for Papa to Whitaker Bank to deposit in our account. He was told the funds were not available. Hmmmm... We decided to go home and wait for our mail to arrive. I signed up for USPS Informed Delivery. Every morning I receive an eMail of what mail will be delivered to our mailbox. I knew I had a bank statement coming from Papa's account. When the mail arrived, the statement looked the same as always. I took it and the check Claude had prepared for deposit to our favorite Whitaker Bank branch. They checked it out and all was well with Papa's account and with our account. My name is on Papa's account and there should be no problem with my issuing checks to finish out his finances. Not sure what happened at the other branch. I was very relieved to know I didn't have a battle to wage with this.
Claude then took me to the nursing home. I had taken home all the books that Junie bought for Papa. They were lovely large books with lots of pictures. She really didn't want any when she came for the funeral. We decided I would take them back to the nursing home and donate them so other residents could enjoy them. I also had some diabetic socks to donate. I was fortunate that Charlotte in the front office could visit with me a bit. It was so nice to see these people who are like family to me. I gave and received hugs from several of my favorites. They were happy to receive these big books to add to their library and the socks were very welcome. Charlotte and I talked about what I should expect from Medicaid about Papa so there would be no surprises there. She had already notified them of his death. It should be fairly easy to get all his affairs finalized with them. Let's hope!!
We spent the rest of our day watching Harry Potter. We watched the next two videos.
Tuesday, May 24th, was a day I totally enjoyed. We started it by reading the Come, Follow Me reading for this week.
My daily routine always included several hours with Papa as long as I could get in to see him. This splits up your day. This was the first day since Papa's passing that I could spend all day in my home, working on my to do list at a leisurely pace, and just enjoying being a homemaker. Claude had errands to run and offered to take me with him but I cheerfully declined as I really wanted this one day at home. He totally understood. Part of the importance of this is finding what my new normal will be.
I did our laundry. Then I spent most of the day in Sandiland working on things on my laptop, writing thank you notes. I did go out and fill the birdfeeder and pulled weeds in the hosta bed. But most of my time was spent clearing out things and working on things in Sandiland. My heart was happy all day long. I love this little house and how we have it set up. It is such a pleasure to be in it and accomplish things I need and want to do.
Claude ordered a fire ring for the back yard. He did a lot of research and opted for one we both felt fit our back yard best. It arrived the previous Wednesday. We simply hid the boxes in the shed until there was time to put it together. This day, Claude put it together. It will make a nice addition to our back yard. Bring on the 'smores!!
Wednesday, May 25th, Claude and I left the house for breakfast. I had purchased a toy for Joel's first birthday through Walmart and it was ready for curbside pickup. We drove through Chick-filA for our breakfast and then to Walmart. After getting the present for Joel, Claude drove and parked in front of Walmart and went inside to find some long handled skewers for us to roast marshmallows and hot dogs over the fire ring. He had success in the effort. When he returned to the car he gave me a small bag of one of my favorite candies. He said he knew I wanted a little dessert after my breakfast. He is a good husband.
When we got home, we curled up on the sofa in the study and read our scripture together. After which we both laid down for a nap. Yep, old age is getting to us. That and the meds I am taking make me very sleepy and very dizzy.
I awoke and headed to Sandiland for another afternoon of work on my laptop. Today's goal was to clean out eMail's and text messages, plus other things that need to be done. It was a fun and successful afternoon. So pleasant to do things at a relaxed pace instead of having to get things done in a tight time limit.
In the evening we watched television. A good day.
Thursday, May 26th, we slept late. How nice that is as one gets older. In the afternoon I did the ironing, hung pictures in Sandiland, made arrangements for a trip we will take in the future and updated my directory of login accounts.
Friday, May 27th, we decided we needed a date. I checked the movie listing and the new Top Gun Maverick movie was playing at Regal Cinema in Hamburg Pavilion. I purchased tickets for 2pm. While Claude went for groceries for Memorial Day, I worked on a lesson I will teach in June about Moroni and the Title of Liberty. I collected pictures, fleshed out the idea for a craft for the kids to make, read the scripture block and thought about what to say and questions to ask.
We left our home about noon and went to Walmart for me to pick up supplies for the craft the kids will make. Then off to the theater in Lexington. Love that theaters today have big overstuffed lounge chairs for you to sit in during the movie. This turned out to be an excellent movie. Years ago they made the Top Gun movie. This one picks up the story line years later. They did a nice job of tying off loose ends from former characters, adding the younger generation that has now come of age, and keeping true to what viewers want in a Top Gun movie. Claude and I really enjoyed this one. We don't go to a lot of movies. It is nice when we do decide to go, the movie is worth the time and money.
This day our grandson, Paul, was married at his church in Muskegon to Rachel Slade. He had told me this was going to happen when we were texting during the week. I asked for pictures. He was kind enough to post them on Facebook for me. This is Mr. & Mrs. Paul Thompson.
So, this Saturday I did nothing but read scriptures with Claude in the morning. In the afternoon, I got up and swept my home and vacuumed carpets. That is the sum total of really useful work I did this day. It felt good I even got that done.
I then pulled out a jigsaw puzzle I purchased a couple of months back and started to work on it at the dining room table. I love doing jigsaw puzzles. I usually only do them on Christmas day because I am an addict when it comes to getting them done. I worked on this one off and on until 11pm. Then I actually left it and went to bed. Amazing for me. Absolutely amazing.
Sunday, May 29th, Claude lead the singing in sacrament meeting. I played the piano in Primary. We went to Jimmy John's for lunch. Stopped at Kroger and picked up two rib racks for Monday's meal. Then home where Claude tried to take a nap unsuccessfully while I finished the bottom half of my puzzle which was a field of tulips in various colors. Now I am finishing this weeks Blog post. Then back to my puzzle and a quiet evening with Claude. He is cooking potato salad for Memorial Day. We are planning on the Marx family joining us.
As we were eating in Jimmy John's, I noticed a plane with a banner behind. Try as I could, I could not read that banner. Claude looked at it with me. We figured out that the two lines with the largest letters read "Computer Screens Off" "Sunscreen On". But the logo and smaller words we could never make out. I told Claude that is really sad. Someone went to a lot of expense to get that huge banner made, then paid handsomely to have a plane fly over Georgetown so people could read it. But people couldn't make out what was really being advertised. I took a picture and posted it on Facebook. A friend said his kids could tell it was an advertisement for Smirnoff. Since I don't drink, that was not even on my radar! It was nice to actually know what was being advertised.
The importance of good people in our lives:
We had Primary Elections in Kentucky May 17th. As we now live in Georgetown, the slate of candidates we needed to vote from was a mite different than when living in Sadieville. Claude knew some of the candidates from his experiences over the years. Others, we had no clue about. So we found places to read up on them and learn about the candidates. By the time the election rolled around, we sat on the sofa in the study and went over the ballot in the Georgetown NewGraphic. We talked about the candidates and filled out that sample ballot so we were ready. We actually voted early. A blessing of the pandemic. They had early voting at the library. We went the first day of this early voting. The day before the actual election, the candidates were out in force canvasing neighborhoods. Our doorbell rang. I answered it. Standing on my doorstep was a candidate for County Attorney. I told him we had already voted. I assured him his father had been our physician until he retired. And, we had noted that Rand Marshall was supporting him as a candidate. Rand Marshall was our City Attorney while Claude was mayor of Sadieville. Rand's father served on the Friends of Sadieville board with me. Rand came from excellent stock and was a joy to have as city attorney. We only have good and positive feelings about Rand. Rand is the current County Attorney and has worked with this young candidate for several years in the County Attorney's office.
I thought as the candidate left our front porch, how important it is to be a good person and to surround yourself with good people. We didn't really know this young man. But we knew his father and someone he worked with. What a plus for him as a candidate. I hope that the people who are around me find that my friendship and association with them is a positive force in their life. It was an important lesson for me to learn.
Well, we continue to try to find our new norm after Papa's passing. I am not really grieving my father. I am confident it was a blessing for his tired, aching body to find its rest after enduring so well that last part of his life. Claude and I talked about it the other night. We are back to that point when we moved into this home. We now need to find our new normal. We talked about things we would like to do in our day-to-day life as well as extra things we might like to fill our lives with. We are in our early 70's and want to squeeze as much goodness out of life as we can. On to do just that!!
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