My last week has definitely been more like a cage at the zoo!!
Monday the 15th of October I spent the morning taking my father to the doctor. They found an 'irregular nodule' when he had his colonoscopy and he was referred to a urologist. I became quite concerned when Papa was filling out his medical history forms for this new doctor. He couldn't remember he had a triple bi-pass surgery many years ago. We made it through the check and are moving on to a blood test needed next. Then the urologist will combine that information and determine what to do next.
Tuesday the 16th of October Claude and I were supposed to go to the Family History Center for our 4 hour shift. Claude ended up with a meeting in Sadieville to determined the future of our little post office. I called Papa and he said he would go with me. Now, if that isn't the blind leading the blind to cover that shift, I truly do not know what is. I picked Papa up and we had a good time together. I drove him home on the back roads and bought him lunch at Long John Silvers on the way home. Then I left him to get some shopping done for Christmas and to purchase groceries. I returned to Papa's home to pick up Tiny. Papa wanted to make a drive on Wednesday to Nashville and I was going to keep Tiny for him to do that. Tiny and I journeyed to Sadieville where she settled in just fine for her visit. Claude's post office meeting went great. There were 40 residents there to voice their opinion. We only look a little time that the post office will be open which is not a biggy necessarily. We also add a full time post master and keep the rural routes we have. Yeah!! All of northern Scott County, Kentucky can be happy about the success of that meeting.
Wednesday the 17th of October I filled my morning with home chores and the afternoon back in Georgetown to play a DVD for the nursing home residents of a country music show from very long ago. Then back to Sadieville to help Claude set up the Rosenwald school for a meeting to be held there the next morning. In the evening I made muffins for him to take to the early morning meeting the next day.
Thursday the 18th of October I finished up my Institute lesson and spent the afternoon taking Tiny back to Papa, practicing the organ at Church and finding a nice sandwich at Arby's where I read my novel for a while. In the evening I taught my Institute class. I went in early because a young woman was being baptized before our class.
Friday the 19th of October I visited a friend from Church in the morning and then came home drained. I was actually experiencing some feelings of depression that were not going away. Every now and then we all have a blue day. This feeling I had for several days and it was hanging on and I couldn't seem to shake it. I determined I was going to curl up and read my book. I borrowed the novel "Exodus" from the library and it was due. I renewed the loan and curled up to read my book. It felt so good to put on thick socks and warm clothes and a sweat shirt, grab a fleece blanket and snuggle under it as I read.
Saturday the 20th of October I enjoyed my reading experience so much that I determined I would do that again. Claude declared Saturday a pajama day since we didn't have to go anywhere. So I curled up and read all day. In the evening we did get up, get dressed and headed in to Lexington to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. Claude was steak hungry. Alas, I'm not the carnivore he is so I enjoyed a nice salmon dinner. Stuffed, we determined we should walk some of that dinner off. Where to go, where to go. I remembered there was a Garden Ridge store in that part of Hamburg Pavilion so we headed there to walk around for a while. Imagine my joy at entering and finding Christmas silk poinsettias and artificial trees lining the walk into the store. These trees were in lots of colors, not green. I even found a 'purple' one. I love all things purple but I just believe a purple Christmas tree is a little over the top, even if it does come with the lights already on it. We also purchased two new suitcases to replace the two we have worn out. Now we are itching to travel to some strange and interesting location. Claude was able to check out large plastic tubs for a project he is trying to complete.
Sunday was my turn to play the organ for Church. I was also playing for a special musical number so I was at the Church at 8:45 to practice with the special musical number and then begin prelude right after that rehearsal. I stayed for choir practice after church and left at 1:30 to visit with Papa. I took Tiny home with me so Papa could go on another drive on Monday in a south-easterly direction this time. Sunday evening was spent starting my next Institute lesson reading.
Monday the 22nd of October I went to the Scott County Extension Office for a 'Beginning Quilting' class. This was one skill I did not learn from my mom. She was good at it. I have a sister that makes beautiful intricate quilts. My goal was to learn some tricks to making a beautiful quilt top. I have all my cross-stitch squares to make a quilt top and I want to do a nice job when I put it together. I did learn a couple of things I did not already know from 'winging it' all these years. Here is the little project we made Monday morning.
Monday evening was the final presidential debate. I prepared a craft project I needed to get ready for the Countryside Homemakers and managed to get it completed in the time of the debate and commentary after. I managed to watch all three of the presidential debates this year and the vice-president's debate as well. Each presidential election year seems to get more and more intense. I'm not sure if it is because I'm getting older or what. It seems the races are closer and that may be part of it. I also think our ability to communicate instantly with so many people at a time intensifies the situation. And, we have way too much media commentary. It just stirs that policital cauldron. Gone are the days of hearing the information from the candidate and then processing yourself and making your own decision. And our media is so very biased that it seems to me people look for the station that leans their direction so they don't have to be frustrated and sometimes angry from listening to the opposition. That is enough waxing political for this moment in time. I'm glad I listened to the debates and, quite frankly, I'm glad they are over.
Tuesday, October 23rd was hunker down and study day. I spent the entire day readying and putting together my lesson for Institute. Since I am teaching the 4 Gospels sequentially, I have been able to glean the things covered in the scripture block we are to study for that week the items that are only contained in that Gospel. We were to finish Luke this Thursday (tonight). My struggle was the last two days of the Savior's life. I really did not want to teach that sequentially. My impression has been very strong that I needed to cover those two days as a harmony of the 4 Gospels. So a lot of my time was reading all the accounts in the 4 Gospels and determining how best to teach those two days. I finally figured it out. I'm going to teach the trials and the crucifixion of the Savior tonight. Then we will cover all of John by Thanksgiving with the exception of the last two days. We get Thanksgiving week off. The last Thursday in November we'll cover the Last Supper and the Gethsemane experience. I wanted very much to have a brief Seder meal with the youth and then cover the Last Supper. We'll do that the last Thursday in November. The last lesson we have is the first Thursday in December. That lesson we will cover the Resurrected Lord. Then we have winter break and I don't teach until January again.
Once I knew how and when I was going to teach those last two days, I set to really covering the trials and crucifixion. I realized Tuesday evening when I finally came up for air that I love when I get immersed in studying the scriptures. There are words that pop out that I look up and digest, there are behaviors that stand out each time with greater force than my last reading, there are parallels in the events and our current lives that teach valuable lessons. So much to learn and I love that kind of learning.
Wednesday morning, October 24th, I spent preparing some things for the Countryside Homemakers meeting in November. I had a visiting teaching appointment at 1pm and took this lady to lunch. We had a nice lunch and then headed back to her apartment. I parked and we rolled the windows down and sat and enjoyed a nice breeze while we talked some more. Then my cell phone started to go off.
The first was an eMail from one of our seminary teachers at Church. I gave her all my New Testament things I used when I taught seminary. These are just to help her through her year with the youth. She was feeling badly because she knows I'm now teaching the same things to the Institute young adults. She felt like she should return my materials. She also has some of my nice big maps. One of them she placed sticky notes on and left for a long period of time as she covered something. When she pulled the notes off they took pieces of the map with them. She was devastated. I quickly sent her an eMail assuring her she should keep the New Testament seminary material for the youth in our ward. I really feel I need to present a little differently to 18-30 year olds that I might to high school age youth. Then I assured her I would rather that map go down in flames serving a good purpose of training youth than rot away in my closet until I might get a chance to use it. My feeling is these are worldly possession meant to teach and train. I am grateful they can be used for that and serve their purpose. Since they are temporal items, they will not last forever even if I'm the only one using them.
The second was an eMail with a big red exclamation point on it that indicated it was urgent. I read it and learned that I needed to kick into gear and help my hubby. Sadieville is being honored at a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning by Bluegrass Tomorrow. They are recognizing Sadieville as a Trail Town candidate and for our efforts to make that happen in our little 'ville'. Our city clerk sent a Word document to Rob Rumpke, the president of Bluegrass Tomorrow, with narrative and some pictures pasted in the document about Sadieville's efforts. It turns out they needed to use the pictures and couldn't unless they came to them as .jpeg files and not as pasted items in a Word document. They needed them yesterday (Wednesday). Problem...Claude was headed to a meeting in Georgetown and doesn't really do or know how I deal with my pictures (it is just not his thing). Cindy, the city clerk, had taken two days off to care for a little granddaughter with cancer and was not available to contact about the pictures in the document. Roy Cornett sent pictures to Cindy and we didn't know where those pictures were located. I was in Georgetown and about to go to the nursing home to sing with my father. Claude and I also had a dinner meeting in the evening in Lexington. How were we going to get .jpeg files sent via eMail when we weren't home to send the ones I might have and we didn't have the ones Cindy and Roy provided. Hmmmm...
I asked Claude to eMail Rob and see if he would send us a copy of the Word document Cindy sent to him. We would then know what pictures Cindy sent him and we could send them after we returned home in the evening so they would be available for his people on Thursday morning. Claude did that. Now, the amazing thing is Rob Rumpke was at the dinner meeting we attended that evening in Lexington and we were able to talk with him face-to-face. Thursday morning would work just fine for him. He only needed 5-10 pictures. Claude did receive his eMail with a .pdf file of Cindy's Word file.
This was all very good to have happen with the lady I took to lunch. Her life is riddled with issues and problems. She is very focused on herself and the magnitude of her problems. By the time I finished sending a bunch of eMail's back and forth and sharing with her the problem and talking out possibilities to handle it with her, she was grinning that someone else had problems also. I assured her my problems were not hers but that didn't mean all of us don't have our own stuff to deal with in life. It was a positive thing for her to observe.
While Papa and I were singing our final number together, I observed two of the men in wheel chairs begin to speak sharply to each other. Then I saw one reach out and try to strike the other with his fist. Immediately the other man's fists came up. At first I was amused at the look of two old men in wheelchairs preparing to duke it out. Then I realized this was serious and they were not going to stop and it was getting more intense. I told Papa we needed to pause. Papa had not seen or heard any of this. I crossed the room to where they were and tried to yell down the hall to the nursing station there was a fight in the multi-purpose room. There was no one close enough to hear me. I quickly pulled one of the men's wheel chairs out and away from the other. Then in a calm voice I told them both to stop and stay apart from each other. Then I went back to Papa and we started our song again.
I followed Papa home after we finished singing at the nursing home and left my car in his driveway. Claude picked me up there and we headed to Garden Ridge to purchase the plastic tubs Claude needed for his project. We had taken measurements of the items he needed to place in the tubs so he now knew what size tub to purchase. Then we went to our dinner. After it was over we were both anxious to get home and see what we could accomplish that evening with the pictures. As we turned onto Hwy 32 on the final stretch to our home, Claude put his hand on my knee and patted it. I looked up and asked him what he needed. He just shook his head and said, "We forgot to get your car." Then I remembered Papa had promised Gayle, a young lady from Church that he gives rides to Church events, that he would pick her up and take her to Church. My car would have been in his driveway and he wouldn't have been able to get out to go pick her up. Good Grief!!!
We got home and I quickly called Papa and asked him if he could forgive me for not putting my car on the street instead of in his driveway. It turns out when I parked in his driveway his car had not been backed into his garage, it was outside for him to take his musical instruments out of before backing in. Papa had been able to pull out of his garage and drive around my car to go get Gayle. However, he didn't feel comfortable trying to back his car into his garage with my car in the way so his car was on the street and mine was in his driveway for the night. Goodness!!
Claude and I set to work with the pictures. He contacted Roy Cornet and asked him about sending a few of his pictures that we thought were the best. He did get several of them from Roy. I only had two of the pictures in my collection that could be used. I sent three eMails with two pictures in each eMail of the pictures we had available on Thursday evening.
This morning Claude and I were out of the house at 7am to go to Georgetown to get my car. Then I came back to the Eagle Creek Horse Motel and took pictures of it and then to Sadieville's park to take pictures of it. I hurried home and took these pictures off my camera and chose the best of that lot. Cindy was back in City Hall and Claude was there for a meeting. He told her what had happened and what we were trying to accomplish. She was able to eMail two pictures we really wanted to use. I was able to send three more eMails with two pictures each before 9am this morning. I got a nice thank you eMail from Rob Rumpke so I know the pictures were received. Whew!!!
I'm now going to make Halloween candy bags for my Institute students tonight and pull my lesson stuff together. What a whirlwind.
So, I simply state...Sometimes life is NOT a Box of Chocolates but rather a lot like being in a zoo.
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