Filling Out The Week...

Thursday, December 5th, Claude and I attended our final Religion Class for 2019. In a great whirlwind lesson that covered ALL of Revelation, that is right, ALL of Revelation, we ended what has been a great time of study and learning. We have so enjoyed going through the New Testament with these good people. We will start again in mid-January studying the Book of Mormon. I am so very happy about this. Love to study the Book of Mormon.

Now, Claude and I have been having a little trouble this year coming up with gift ideas for each other. First, Claude suggested I get him a pair of those leather fur-lined slippers. While in Lexington for our religion class, I suggested to Claude we go to Cabela's and let him try on the pair he liked. Good thing we did this. That pair did not fit in his size. After trying on three different kinds and sizes, we found just the right pair and bought them. Second, I knew Claude wanted a steamer for steaming vegetables. I tried to find one in Georgetown to no avail. Again, after our Thursday religion class, I suggested we go to Bed, Bath and Beyond to see if they had one. We found one. We walked out with Claude's second Christmas present. He is happy with these gifts but it doesn't leave any for putting under that tree. Thank heavens we are old enough to understand these things. Now, I need to go measure my bedroom windows so he can buy me the white wood blinds I have wanted on them for years for my Christmas present. 😂😂😂

I spent the afternoon visiting with Papa.

Thursday evening we were back in Lexington for our Stake Welfare/Self-Reliance Meeting. Lots of good discussion and planning.

These pictures were posted by our Katelyn of their family at the ice hockey game for Drew. To say this is an ice loving family is an understatement. Raelyn is educating her little sister, Emelia, about how important this is.

Friday, December 6th, was decorating day inside our home.

The first tree I put up is the kid's tree in the basement. It is a little thing. I don't put the ornaments on it. I just get it up and leave the ornaments for the grandmonsters to put on as they will. This year should be fun as the Ropers will be here (the weather willing) and the Mini's will be here. The Mini's are almost old enough to not need the kids tree anymore. But I'm guessing they will love doing the decorating with Raelyn this year. After I got this little tree together, I took a quick picture and sent it to Katelyn and asked her to show it to Raelyn and see if she could tell what was missing. Raelyn knew right off it was missing ornaments and presents!

After I got the tree in the living room put together, I sent this picture to our family with this comment, "I'm thinking we just go green this year. Anyone not okay with that?" When Katelyn showed this picture of the big tree to Raelyn and told here my idea of leaving it green, Raelyn said to leave it just like that. Love this girl!

I almost finished the inside of our home. Claude got a great start on the outside of the house. I paused in the afternoon to visit with Papa.

Saturday, December 7th, I started my morning by putting the last box of ornaments on the tree. Then the garland down the stair rail and on the top of the piano. Claude finished the outside of the house on Saturday. The living room tree is sporting two new ornaments from our South Africa trip. There is a beaded replica of the South Africa flag and a gourd with a turtle on it.

The new nativity looks so nice. We purchased it after Christmas last year. Hopefully it will hold up under the weather well. We get some fierce winds on our hill in Sadieville. 

My gum drop tree needed a revision. If I put gum drops on it, I end up eating all of them. It looks great but I really don't need all those gum drops. Last year I tied life savers on each branch. Didn't really want to do that again. So I hit the Family Dollar store and found some small Christmas ornaments. Claude used his jewelry stringing thread and made loops for each of the ornaments. Then we hung them on the tree. We put jelly beans in the base. This should be a great way to use my gum drop tree!

Sunday, December 8th, we had a good scripture reading time, attended Church, then I visited Papa. The nursing home is on a quarantine basis. There is a stomach bug going through the nursing home. So all residents are to stay in their own room. They are taking all meals to each residents room. I wasn't sure they would let me take Papa out of the nursing home. He hasn't got the stomach bug. But it was fine. So I scooped up Papa and took him to the creek. As good fortune would have it there were 11 geese on the creek. And this time there was a man in this cute boat that he pedaled to propel it. It was a nice afternoon.

In the evening Claude and I watched the First Presidency Devotional broadcast from Salt Lake City.

Afterward, we got pictures of the Tyler's. They had Sunday football watching. Todd is a very big Green Bay Packers fan. The picture that really touched me was one Katelyn took of Nissa, her mother and our first born. Nissa was playing her piano and Raelyn was sitting on her lap with her hands on top of her Gramma's hands as she played. How many times over the years have I done that. So sweet watch my child doing that with her grandchild.

Monday, December 9th, today, I went to visit Papa in the morning. Claude had a physical therapy appointment. He dropped me off to visit while he did the PT. While I was with Papa, the nurse came in to take his vitals. This is routine. But today his top blood pressure number was below 100. She put the cuff on his other wrist and tried again, getting the same results. We gave Papa lots of water to drink and she was going to come back and take it again. It is a concern to me. Papa had three episodes when we first put him in the nursing home where his blood pressure went to zero and they had to take him to the emergency room.

When Claude picked me up we went to lunch. Then over to Lowe's to get a few things. With Papa in his new room permanently, he will have a window. I wanted to get him a shepherd's hook for outside his window with a bird feeder full of food on the hook. I just know Papa will enjoy watching the birds come to his window. We found the perfect shepherd's hook and a bright yellow bird feeder. Papa's eyesight is not great so I feel like that bright yellow color will help him as he watches the birds.

One last thought. While sitting with my father one morning at the nursing home, I watched a sweet man walking down the hall with his guitar. He stops in different rooms and played a melody. When he got to Lillian's room, she broke into song. She sings the old gospel favorites I learned as a child. I found myself singing a soft harmony from my father's room. This nice man came with his guitar to provide Christlike service to the residents. He also provided it for me. I love Lillian's sweet voice in song. This little moment in time lifts my spirits. I am grateful for this kind man's Christlike service that comes as a gift to me as well as Lillian.

Mustard Seed Hill...

As 'Empty Nesters', Claude and I like to treat ourselves to some nice Christmas outings during the month of December. This year a half-page ad came in the Georgetown NewsGraphic about a Christmas event in Millersburg, Kentucky. It was to be held at a place called Mustard Seed Hill. I have pasted some of the history of this beautiful facility from their website (http://mustardseedhill.events/) below in brackets:

"The recorded history of the Mustard Seed Hill property dates to 1852 when William Nunn established his impressive, Greek Revival home, commonly referred to as the Allen House.

"In 1920, the citizens of Millersburg purchased the dwelling so Millersburg Military Institute (MMI) could return to the town. They added a number of buildings, including Moffett Hall, Rankin Hall and a gymnasium. MMI was an icon of Kentucky private education for 113 years.

"In 2016, Community Ventures purchased the property, which was abandoned and in rapid decline. Today, extensive restoration has prepared the grounds for a new life and unbounded growth including weddings and corporate retreats. "

We arrived at Mustard Seed Hill and were directed to a parking lot on the premise. Then we walked through a part of the light display to find the outdoor market area.

Each vendor had their own tent (with a heater!). These were all top-of-the-line vendors. We didn't purchase anything. All our Christmas shopping is done. We did enjoy browsing through the vendors.

After visiting the market area, we walked around the outside of the Allen House to the back door. This is where you entered the Allen House to view the Gingerbread House display. There was a $5 per person charge for this. However, if you brought the ad from the local newspaper, they let you enter for free. We brought the ad. Claude would make a nice contribution to Mustard Seed Hill before we left this event.

These are pictures of the interior of the Allen House decorated for Christmas with a gingerbread house or more in each room. Some of the houses were made by children, some by families, some by organizations and some by professionals. I was particularly fascinated with the light fixtures in some of the rooms. Enjoy these pictures of the interior of the Allen House and the gingerbread houses on display.

The nice lady who welcomed us as we entered the Allen House answered my question about the history of the property. She told us that last year they had a few lights. This year they added more lights, the market place, the gingerbread displays and a hospitality tent with live entertainment. The entertainment was a man playing a guitar and a woman playing a fiddle. They sang bluegrass music and they were very good. We left the Allen House and went to the hospitality tent and enjoyed our evening meal with this lovely entertainment. Then we took a few more pictures as we went back to our car.

This was a very relaxing, enjoyable evening. I would love to go back next year to see what they add next. This was a excellent evening of Kentucky Christmas celebration.

A Full Life...

Monday, November 2nd, Claude and I went in to Georgetown together for him to go to Physical Therapy. He leaves me with Papa while he has PT. This saves us one car on one day into Georgetown. It is a little thing but we feel good trying to save and conserve a bit. We determined Claude would cook dinner that evening but knew we needed something light at lunch time. I suggested a mango/pineapple smoothie for me. Claude obliged and we drove thru Dairy Queen. Then it was home to fill the afternoon. I worked on some sewing for Christmas and some things that needed to be done on my computer. 

Tuesday, November 3rd, was such a productive day. Claude had meetings in Lexington. He called an inspector that had to inspect the installation of the new hot water heater. I stayed home so he could get in the house to do that inspection. I finished up the sewing I had to do to get Christmas packages in the mail. I heard noises outside and found the utility people out trimming trees in the back yard. I am always happy to see this. It gets limbs away from the power line and the phone lines. When we have ice in the winter, this will keep us from losing power because a limb broke on them. 

The inspector came. I showed him to the basement. He looked at the hot water heater and said it was installed correctly. He put a green sticker confirming this approval and was off to his next home to inspect. Very quick. 

I was trying to take out Christmas decoration boxes so I could carry them upstairs each time I went back upstairs. If I emptied one, I brought the empty box back downstairs and put it in storage. I knew I wouldn't have time to finish the interior decorating but I would get a good start on it. 

After the inspector left, I managed to get the two boxes I had to mail ready and headed to the post office in Sadieville. This is what I saw in front of the post office. The UPS truck was pulled up and working diligently to move boxes into the post office. That big package crate is parked right in front of the big window of the post office. The lady inside told me she now understands it is a permanent fixture. It was put there by Amazon to handle all the packages they deliver in Sadieville and northern Scott County. It saddens me to think it may be a permanent fixture. It is just unsightly in every sense. Ugh!! 

Tuesday, someone posted this cute meme on Facebook. Our son, Jacob, is an English major. I sent it to him and he definitely enjoyed it. 

Tuesday afternoon I spent with Papa. I needed to be home before 5pm so Claude and I could go on our date. While sitting with Papa I received a text from Claude. He said we had a 'change of plans'. It seems he looked at our tickets. We were to go to the Eastern Kentucky Center for the Arts to see the Beach Boys. I purchased tickets and I purchased a parking pass. When I printed the tickets and the parking pass I gave them to Claude folded in half. When Claude opened them, the parking pass was on top. He entered the parking pass information on his calendar. His calendar shows up on my calendar on our cell phones and lap tops. The problem. The tickets were for February 27th. The parking pass said "Beach Boys" but the date on it was December 3rd. Hmmmm... Claude checked on the Internet and, sure enough, the event at EKU for Tuesday evening was "A Christmas Carol" not the Beach Boys. I had not put the Beach Boys on my December calendar. I did have it on my February calendar. When I got home, we figured out it was probably a glitch on the parking pass. We opted to enjoy an evening at home. Claude made a sausage/corn chowder out of leftovers from our Thanksgiving meals. I started the laundry. Claude found Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the local public television channel and we settled in for the evening. I address all the Christmas cards and will get those out in the next day or two. Claude finished the Christmas letter for these cards today.

Tuesday was just a good full day and I felt very productive.

Today has been another good day. Claude left for meetings in the morning. I finished bringing up the Christmas boxes for inside the house with the exception of the Christmas tree. Then I headed into Georgetown to be with Papa. 

Papa was a concern today. When I got to the nursing home at 9:30am he was a curled up in his bed and his breakfast was on the table by his bed. He had not eaten but he didn't look like he was really asleep. I touched his arm and told him his breakfast was there and he had not eaten. He was disoriented. I asked him if he was okay. He kept saying, "No, no I'm not okay. My head hurts. Somethings not right with my head." I got him up and sitting on the side of his bed and reminded him we were going to go to the church and I was going to practice the organ but he needed to eat his breakfast first. He set to eating. He had to clean himself up before we could go and while he did that I went to the nurses station to sign him out of the nursing home for a bit. There was a new medical person that was checking patients with Signature Advantage insurance. She was new to that position. I was again very grateful I was there to talk with her before she met Papa. Papa just doesn't remember his health issues and really doesn't give a good report to any medical personnel. I visited with her and then she came to Papa's room and talked with him and took some vitals. She did a few things to see how Papa was doing. One thing was to pat the tops of her legs and then ask Papa to copy what she was doing. He just wasn't getting what to do. Simple task but I again could see how disoriented he was today. He tried raising his leg and all kinds of things before she got him to understand what she was asking. We eventually got him his morning meds and went on to the church. He got disoriented going into the chapel. There is a door into the front of the cultural hall, a tiny wall, and then a door into the back of the chapel. He was pushing his walker into this little wall instead of going through a door. Ugh... It was good to get him out and about. 

After taking Papa back to the nursing home, I went to Dairy Queen. My dear friend, Laura, was going to meet me there for lunch and a good long visit. We don't get to do this often and we both relish the opportunity to visit like that. I love this Lady. She is a great source of comfort and strength for me. 

After we parted ways, I quickly drove to Kohl's to purchase pajamas for Bailey and Hayden. I am sewing pajamas to Raelyn and Emelia and they will get them on Christmas Eve. I wanted Bailey and Hayden to have that experience at the same time since the Ropers will be in Kentucky sharing Christmas with us this year. I was able to find pajamas for the Mini's and use my discount card. Score!!

Then I hurried out to Sadieville. I am on the Board of Adjustments and there was a resident asking for a variance on a garage he is building on his property. The meeting was brief and we granted the variance. I was also able to voice my concern with Mayor Rob Wagoner about that crate in front of the post office. His understanding is it is only there through Christmas. The problem is that the place it is sitting is really post office property. There is no room in back of the post office for the mail trucks to turn around if the Amazon shipping box is back there. Main Street and the parking spots across from Main Street are the property of the railroad that runs through Sadieville. Permission would need to be received from the railroad to park the shipping crate there. We'll see if it disappears after the Christmas shipping rush.

We have had a good evening at home again. I have gotten some things done on my lap top and a few more Christmas items placed in our home. It feels good to accomplish things and have a full and productive life. Not all days are like that. I have been blessed with two in a row and that just feels good.

Turkey Time...

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time in our home this year. Claude and I did all the grocery shopping except for the fresh foods the week prior. Then on Monday we fought the grocery store to pick up fresh veggies and breads. We have not set foot in a grocery store yet. That really helps to get the holiday off right. 

Tuesday Claude smoked the brisket. He would have done it Wednesday but he is doing physical therapy for his back and that would take up his Wednesday morning. So, Tuesday we had the great fragrance of smoking brisket wafting through our home. So yummy.

Wednesday the family would arrived. First came the Marx family at dinnertime. Claude prepared home made macaroni and cheese to go with brisket sandwiches. So very good. Then we settled into our visit. Bailey had a sweatshirt that needed repair. She and I went to the basement and stitched it right up. Andie found this pictures taken of Hayden in his Oldham County Symphonic Band tuxedo and holding his baritone. He is one handsome young man. The Marx family is watching Friends as a family. So we all watch several episodes of Friends. Then we played a game Andie brought called "5 Second Rule" or something close to that. The basis of the game is you pull a card from a box full of cards and read it to the person on your right. They must come up with three items that fit that category before 5 seconds are up. If they don't get it, the next player gets to guess in 5 seconds but they can't use any answers the first player thought of. It was a fun game. We all enjoy watching the game show "The Chase". Claude and I saved an episode that has James Holtzhauer on it. He won big time money on Jeopardy. This show was done before he ever played on Jeopardy. Since we all followed the James story on Jeopardy, it was fun to all watch him win on The Chase. Jake arrived around 10:30pm. He did great on that drive down from Michigan. We all agreed to sleep in Thanksgiving morning.  

Thanksgiving morning we did sleep in. Andie won for sleeping in the longest. She is a first grade teacher and when she gets an opportunity, she tries to catch up on all the sleep missed preparing lessons and things during her own time. Claude prepared a nice breakfast of sweet rolls, bacon and eggs. A little before noon I went to Georgetown to pick up Papa for the afternoon. He was happy to be with family. I pulled out photo albums from trips Claude and took to South Africa and to Alaska. He sat pouring over them the entire afternoon. We all decided we should share our favorite Papa stories after I got home from returning him to the nursing home simply because he didn't share one of them this time. He had a good afternoon and we were happy to have had him with us for one more Thanksgiving. Claude smoked a brisket for our dinner and we filled out the rest of the menu with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, moonshine corn, tossed salad, and rolls with chocolate cake and ice cream cake for dessert. We were very full. Elizabeth Schepens sent us this picture of her son Luke enjoying the blanket I made for him when he was born. Elizabeth worked with Claude when Claude was Kentucky League of Cities president. Luke was born during that time. We played another game of 5 Second Rule and also Apple to Apples. Michael enjoyed ball games on the television in the basement and we watched movies on the television in the upstairs. Raelyn called us in the early evening. That is always an adventure as this rambunctious three year old carries the phone around to show you things or what she is doing. She was happy to see Hayden and Bailey on this call. Such a nice day. 

Saturday we had a nice breakfast together and then the Marx family were off to stop at a couple of stores on their way home to LaGrange. I had not taken one picture. Not one. But I had told everyone we were going to get a group selfie before everyone parted ways. Hayden set up his cell phone with the timer and took this grand picture of all of us. I really like this picture.  (Hayden, Jake, Sandi, Claude, Michael, Andie and Bailey)

I went to visit Papa in the afternoon and left Claude and Jake watching some programs about Saturn and its rings and the Cassini information learned about them. Jake loves all things about space. When I returned we all piled in my car and drove to Ted's Montana Grill. We wanted to share this treasure of a restaurant with Jake. We all ate bison in some form. Jake really enjoyed it and I can see a return to this place in our future with Jake. The evening was spent with Jake finishing his laundry while we watched programs on the history of baseball. 

Sunday, Jake would head back to Chelsea, Michigan. We had been very concerned about his safety as there were storms coming from west to northeast. Fortunately the track of them ended up being a bit north of Jake and he made it home in fine shape. 

Today the mail came with a package in it addressed to me. It turned out to be the t-shirt I ordered Claude so he could wear it on Thanksgiving. Alas, that did not happen. However, I have been assured I get full points for effort. It will be a great t-shirt for Thanksgivings to come. I think he looks quite handsome in this shirt and we enjoy it because we watched this television show when it first aired and laughed our sides off.  

So I give Thanksgiving 2019 a star for success. Nothing earthshaking but everything family and time together. That is the best for any holiday.