Boyfriends, Music and Birthdays...

Monday, March 11th, let me go back in time a bit. Monday evening, March 11th, I recieved a text from our Bailey. She wanted to know if we were back in town from our Italy trip. I sent her a text and assured her we were and that we planned on attending her concert the next evening. She was so happy. Then I told her we would also be at her concert on Sunday and we planned to take her and her parents to dinner after to celebrate her mother's birthday. This her mother already told her. Then Bailey texted, "Guess who is coming along with us?" My response: "Hmmm...is it male or female?" Bailey assured me it was male. I responded with "Oh dear Bailey. Do you have a new special friend we need to meet?" Bailey's lovely reply was, "Why yes, we do grandmother. Would you like a photo?" I assured Miss B I really wante a photo. Quickly came these three picture of Bailey and Patrick. 

Patrick is a senior and attends a different high school than our Miss B. We would meet him Sunday. He is very polite and treats our Miss B very well. We were pleased with this new beau. I shall always cherish Bailey's "Why yes, we do grandmother." 

Thursday, March 14th, was my second physical therapy appointment. This time Jaime ran me through my paces and then gave me a thorough massage on my shoulder. While this hurts, I think it does the most good for my ailing arm. I told her I had an appointment with Dr. Lyon in a couple of weeks and was wondering about timeline to reassess to possibly get an MRI. She thinks we might can take other measurements the appointment I have the beginning of the week I see Dr. Lyon. Then he can assess from those measurements. It is a process. It teaches one patience. Rome wasn't built in a day. My arm will not heal in a day. Viva Italy!!

In the evening, Claude baked chocolate chip cookies. He had a little bag of mix that made twelve cookies. They were a delight!

Friday, March 15th, was probably my worst day with my arm. I did my exercises morning and evening as instructed. I took my Advil morning and evening as usual. I gave up on trying to do anything and simply read books. 

In the afternoon I received a welcome call from Betty Dixon. Our friend is officially 89 years old! She had made her decision to move to Iowa. I shall offer many prayers for her as she goes through this process. Two moves and the death of your son in one year is a lot of someone who is 89 years old. But Betty has 'pluck' and I am sure she will get through this just fine. 

The other call I got was from Alan McKay. He was our tour guide in Italy. He and his wife, Ida Mae were in the Dallas Airport awaiting a flight to Salt Lake City. He was catching up on the three of us that left Italy with medical issues. Mindy, who we thought had a sprain or stress fracture actually has a broken tibia. Her doctor was amazed she walked through the rest of that trip with the crutches. We attribute that ability to priesthood blessings. I told Alan I was in physical therapy before they will do an MRI. Claude has seen his doctor and appears to be slowly healing from a bad sprain. No PT for Claude yet. Watch for a few weeks and then go from there. I was very touched that Alan called to check on us. 

Saturday, March 16th, I got a little sleep during the night, but it was not good at all. I still managed to stay up all day on Saturday. I was able to get a good start on the April Newsletter for Relief Society. 

Jake posted a potential new recipe that looked good to me. I shared the picture with Claude and we decided to try it. We settled in to watch Psych again. I got up and found the three can needed: one of whole kernel corn, one of black beans and one of diced tomatoes. We rinsed these off and mixed together. Claude added some green onion we had on hand, and he tried some lime juice on it. We each tried this as a dip with chips. It was originally called 3 Can Burritos. Claude has now purchased tortillas and we will try eating it that way. It is yummy.

Sunday, March 17th, was St. Patrick's Day. I am amazed at the number of people I know who have a birthday on St. Patrick's Day. Our Andie is one of them.

We attended Sacrament Meeting and then came home. My arm hurt. Claude ankle hurt. We had a drive to Indiana to do that afternoon. So, we came home, and Claude took a little nap while I curled up on the sofa to rest and read. 

In the afternoon we headed to Indiana. Specifically, the Ogle Center at Indiana State University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. We would attend Bailey's second Louisville Youth Orchestra performance. The title of this program was "Come Fly with Me" and featured a lot of music with birds and things in the title. Claude and I are always amazed at the quality of this music. We marvel how polished and advanced it sounds compared to our high school age experience. Bailey performs in the Repertory Orchestra and Ian Elmore is the conductor. Bailey plays the French Horn. 

Just before the performance, I gave Bailey a treasure of mine. Bailey loves wearing jewelry she got form her great grandmothers. She is wearing Bea's earrings in these pictures. Bailey likes wearing a string of pearls when she is wearing her black outfits for these performances. I gave Bailey the pearls Mr. Gertshel (spelling may be wrong) gave me when I graduated from high school. The Gertshel's lived next door in Shreveport, Louisiana. Mr. Gertshel owned a jewelry store in Shreveport. These were real pearls. My Aunt Margaret assured me they were quality as the string on which they were strung had a knot between each pearl. This way, if the string broke, you only possibly lost one pearl. I have cherished these and Bailey was ecstatic to get this treasure. 

After this excellent concert, we all went to Culver's. Patrick was at the concert and came with us. He has several food allergies and Culver's is a place he can find things that don't trigger those allergies. We really enjoyed this time with family. We gave Andie her birthday t-shirt that said, "Gogh With It" and had a picture of Van Gogh's sunflowers on the front. She was happy with it.

But Michael, Michael outdid himself with this gift. I was very impressed with his thoughtfulness. Andie received an envelope with this one the front. Michael let me see if I could figure it out. It reads "To Andie from Penny Man". This is what we called Michael when he and Andie were in high school and dating. 

Inside was a note that needed further decoding. Michael had put lines under each picture and gave Andie a pen so she could record her answers as they came to her. It was delightful to watch her brain work. Evidently, Michael had shared his pictures with Bailey for input as he created this masterpiece. Bailey was concerned about he potato picture. But it only took Andie a bit to get that one too. Michael purchased tickets to see Sting and Billy Joel at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Andie was over-the-moon happy with this gift from her honey. So much fun.

In the morning I posted this on our family Facebook page for Andie's birthday: "March has 4 family birthdays. Today we celebrate the 2nd of these. A few faces of Andie Christensen Marx, our middle-born child. She loves her family fiercely, is a super teacher with fun stories, she loves a good recipe and naps. The nap part is genetic from her dad! Happy Birthday to you, Andie!! Let's enjoy Bailey's concert and dinner tonight to celebrate. Love Ya Bunches!!

Monday, March 18th, I actually was up until noon. Then I took a nap. I do not usually nap. This day I did and it felt very good. I started reading Grapes of Wrath in preparation for our trip on Route 66 this fall. And, I did the wash. 

We received this post from Andie on our family Facebook page. It seems Patrick has asked Bailey to prom and she said yes!! They are cute.

Tuesday, March 19th, was my third PT appointment. This time Tina was the therapist to get me through my paces and then give me a thorough shoulder massage. I really do believe they do the best for my shoulder. Some of it hurst like Billy-rip but the end results are good. I am now a very big fan of the ice pack after the workout. 

I am also grateful for online shopping. I was able to order all the presents for April birthdays from the comfort of Sandiland. How great is that?!

Wednesday, March 20th, my arm is sore but I did get the morning exercises done. I even went out and broke off the dead flower stems from the four plants in the backyard flower bed. My poor flower beds are atrocious. With the Moh's surgery on my nose last fall, I was not wanting to get out in the dirt to do these things before winter. Figured I could do them in the spring. Little did I know Pompeii would render me useless in a lot of ways. It felt good to do that little bit. 

This evening were at North Oldham County High School for Bailey's KMEA Assessment. I sent her a text and asked if she needed a ride home from the assessment. She said the bus would take them back to the high school but she needed a ride from the high school home and we could do that. So, we went to Oldham County High School after the assessment, picked up Miss B and took her home. Nice to be helpful. The Oldham County High School Concert Band received all 1's. The Oldham County High School Symphonic Band (Bailey) received all I's. Excellent!! I spent the rest of the evening trying to create a Goggle Photo Album to share with Michael and Andie. It takes forever to download video when driving. 

I must confess that made an oops when recording their music. Their first number I decided to try taking a still shot while recording the number. Alas, my lame arm didn't reach high enough and I touched the off button for the video. It took me three tried to get it back recording. So, I have 4 little clips to make up their first number. Geez!! 

Our grandson, Paul, and his wife, Rachel, are due to have their first baby soon. It will be a little girl and they will name her Phoebe. This will be our sixth great grandmonster. A friend took pictures of Paul and Rachel.