Christmas

Merry Christmas
I have not been able to get on the Internet. Peter fixed it on Christmas when he came down.
We had a nice Christmas with more to come when Pat and the boys come tomorrow. Decorating was haphazard. Pennie thought that cleaning was more important than decorating. I got a tree up and one drawer of balls on it,and the star on top. I got a new fibre optics tree and John had a train that also glowed in different colors. I put them on top of the bookshelf. When Luke saw them, he suggested that I get them to move with music. His Grandfather would have loved that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Church Service Cancelled

Today was the first time for me that I did not attend service, because there wasn't one held. It felt strange. Next week is the children's Christmas program and of course we were to practice. The choir was doing a special program, and the stewardship committee was hosting a tailgate party, and we were to watch the Packers after service. Pledges were to be made before the party. The blizzard made all this unsafe to hold. Pennie cancelled, the practice before the church service was cancelled. Next week all that was to happen this week will happen then, with the addition of the Christmas Program. Wrong. The choir's program will be held on Christmas Eve.
My snow shoveler broke his snow blower on what he said was a extension cord. There were no extension cords on the side walk or driveway. He is trying to fix it with parts so he will not have to but a new blower. Only part of the driveway got cleared. He thinks that Pennie may be able to get out. I know I can not get out.
As a Christian, I have a concern. We pack bags for the Sunday School children to get after the Christmas Program. I went looking for items to but in the bags. Small toys and candy. I could not find any with Christian symbols on them. It was Santa. Rudolph, or Frosty. Pennie ordered some from Oriental Trading, but have we replaced Jesus with Santa. Is Santa an Idol? I could not find any wrapping paper with a Christian design. I would like to keep Santa and his friends from the church, because he has taken over everything else. If the Children do not have the pastor, teachers, and congregation talking about Jesus, not Santa, how are they to learn about the real meaning of Christmas? Instead of reading about Jesus birth to the children Christmas Eve, It is The Night Before Christmas, on TV shows, and maybe in homes. Just something to think about.

Who Has The Sermon?

I hope all had a Happy Thanksgiving. We went to my son Pete's house for the meal, we all went including the dog. The food was very good, and we all ate too much. The dogs[Pete has a dog too] also shared in the meal, but that was not the way we thought it should be. As we were eating apparently a dog or dogs had some pie crust. We were not sure if the pie had been crushed on the way there or not. One pie was missing crust on one side, but later Spanky was after the pie so that answered that question. My oldest grandson made five pies. One of the pumpkin pie was made from scratch starting with the whole pumpkin. Canasta was played. As Lori's mom was leaving the house she placed the left over beans in a pot on the floor, not having a dog of her own at home, and the dogs added to their meal for the day.
Pat,Curtis, and the boys had to go back early Sunday. Pennie and I were at the church at 7AM to set up. I carried in the cookies I made for fellowship after the service, leaving my purse behind. I returned to the car to get my purse, and the church door locked behind me. I was left outside in the very chilly weather. I knocked, and knocked. After about five minutes Pennie heard me, and let me in. It was celebration Sunday for the children and they got to play a quiz game going over the material they had for the last unit. They also take part in the service by being ushers, greeters, and reading the lessons. At the beginning of the service Pennie explained how the children's offerings were used from last year. The children took part in the heifer program and bought a goat, sheep, a pig,and geese. She had pictures of the animals on sheets of 9x10 paper, she placed them on the pulpit holding them up one by one. Ending her presentation she picked up all of the papers on the pulpit. Pastor Steve when he got up to do his sermon starting looking around, and then asked has anyone taken my sermon. There were no responses. The children did a play for the children's Sermon and there was a thought the the sermon got mixed in with the scripted. Pastor began without his notes, and half way though Pennie looked at her animal pictures and found Pastor Steve's notes. She then brought them forward. We all had a laugh.

Oldest in the House

I went to the latest Harry Potter movie at midnight,with my daughter. We were the last to be getting tickets, and knew that all theaters were sold out, so we went early to get good seats. I watched as the theater filled with mostly teens with a few middle aged scattered about. I saw no one who looked to be my age, and that could be because seniors do not want to out at midnight,but I could sleep in. I enjoyed the movie. I have read the book, along time ago, but I am looking forward to the ending,in the theater.
It has been long a long time since I have blogged. My bathroom got painted finally after four years. When they put in the walk in tub, they replastered, but they did not paint saying I could save so much doing it myself. I thought that was true, and it was small, no problem. Problem how does a height challenged person paint over a tub with no room for a ladder to be safely placed in the tub? Answer, call in the family troops. My son, daughter, and grandsons Alex and Caleb. They did a fine job. I now have a beautiful coral room, which I added a verse and stick on flowers and butterflies. I would show a picture but I have lost the cord and the instructor to put pictures on the blog. I hope to figure this out.
I got a big scare last month when I discovered my bank had not been paying my mortgage for eight months. I discovered it not my bank. They had not done as I instructed to make the new account as the old. I got a new account because of John's death. I asked several times if they had done that and they said they had taken care of it. The loan was from them so I figured they had done that. On the statements that came from the bank there was no record, and that bothered me, I finally decided instead of worrying I would check into it, I should have done that much earlier. I had the money because it had not gone out from my account, but I was thinking I was doing so well, I could take a trip to Germany. Glad I did not do that. I now have little trust in that bank, but I am afraid of a change. This whole incident left me shaken. I kind of shut down for awhile.

Week With Grandkids

Pat had vacation, and did not want to spend money, so he came here. Bree and Luke were coming for the week. We planned to go to Door County. While looking for things to do, we found geocaching. It is sort of a treasure hunt from the Internet. This was a time were everyone could enjoy, we even brought the dog. She did have to spend some time in the car while we ate supper at Al Johnson's. A Swedish restaurant with goats on a sod roof in Sister Bay. The food was very good. Across from the restaurant at a ice cream shop in the ground was hidden one of the caches. At lunch in Sturgeon Bay, we ate at a coffee shop with tables outside, and they let the dog sit with us. In Sturgeon Bay there was a cach at the Welcome Center. There were three others that were progressive. When you found one it had a clue to the next. The first clue was at the start of the canal. It was a nice park area. The next clue led us to a field next to the canal. The last one was at a lighthouse. We did not find the treasure. The kids loved the beach and managed to get wet. I held the dog away from the water, a ride home with a wet dog would not be pleasant.
Our first outing was to a Harley Davidson resort, kind of. There was a zoo, a museum, a restaurant, a flea market, and a pirate sailing ship the kids could play on.
Pat wanted to just sit around the house reading and playing computer games, and we did that too.
On Thursday,Pat and I went to the Packer preseason game, with Pete and Bree. It was fun and they won. The boys stayed at their aunt's home with her and Luke. Pennie came up later after work.
On Saturday we went to the "Y" so the boys could go rock climbing. They would like to stay longer than our paid for time.

I have had a hard time getting on to blog, but apparently I was not going the correct way because Pennie got me on to do this post.

VBS was fun. We did High Sea Adventure. Pats boys came for that the first week in August. The older boys were part of the staff. I was the bible story person. We acted out Peter's escape from prison, Paul's shipwreck, and the healing of the lame man by Peter and John. Kay and Jane made us a great ship in the fellowship hall. We were sad when we had to take it down.
We did something different that we will continue into Sunday School. The kids were placed in crews not grades. In each crew there was a child from each grade level except the skippers, which formerly were the preschool. They were apart except at the beginning and the closing each day. The music was great.

Busy Time

I have been painting, not my house, but in the church. Kay who is not a designer by trade, but gifted and her family have taken on the challenge to spruce up St. Marks. Finished are the library, and Pastor Steve's office. Pennie and I are painting her SS office. We have finished two walls with two coats. We have two panels between windows with one coat. The walls are tan. the panels are are maroon. We have to move numerous items to get to the last wall, which is an area above the shelving units.
Pennie and I took some time off, and went up to Green Bay to the Heritage Hill State Park for the Laura Ingalls Wilder days. Lori and Brea joined us. The place was packed,so we did not get to see Dean Butler, Melissa Anderson or William Anderson. They let only a few in the Library at a time and there was a long line. We went to all the open buildings. It was a nice day, but storms preceded and there was a lot of muddy trails. Pennie did get to grind coffee. We chose not to scrub clothes on scrub boards. It was a very nice day, but we will come back when the park is less full. It was fun to see all the children in costume.
Vacation Bible School is coming soon. It starts on Aug. 8. Pennie and I have to figure out how to build the canon.
Quilly I have not been able to get to your blog. I have not been able to blog myself. Don't know what is going on.

The Fun Busy Week

We went to Lifefest from Wednesday through Thursday. Peter brought down Brea and a friend. The bands were great, and which were the best, depended on your choice of music likes. It rained Wed. night. The show did not stop, and we did get wet. Thursday we dodged puddles, and mud. I was embarrested for my car as Pennie and I traveled to Indianapolis on Friday for my nieces wedding.

I thought the word that my daughter used to discribe the wedding was perfect "elegant". The bride looked like a princess. The reception was across the street from the motel. The caterers did an excellent job. Each guest was served salad and a meal of stuffed shells, roast beef, potatoes and shrimp. The cake was sooo good.

The bride had a friend make up a small jar of honey, which had the couples name and date on it, given to each of the guests.

The being with family for a very happy ocassion was so nice. I don't get to see my sister often, only about twice a year. Her whole family less. Her older daughter lives in Spain. My sister's grandson from Spain was adorable. He was the ring bearer at the ceremony.

Eating well may lead to exploding.

Happy 4th, late.
Busy getting ready for the fourth, Lifefest, and my niece's wedding. Everything comes all together.
Pennie and I are back eating healthy. We were cooking our steak, when a alarm went off. Think it was the smoke alarm. Your wrong it was the carbon monoxide alarm. We thought it was the smoke alarm too. The alarm is very loud. The alarm was plugged in under the card table I have up. I crawled under the table to read it and found it was telling that there was gas. I unplugged it and moved it to another location and it continued to sound. I got out the other alarm I have in the bedroom. It did not go off, but we called 911 and the firemen came. They found no gas leak.
We had a nice Fourth, Peter ,and family came down after church. We grilled, played canasta, and set off fireworks. Luke helped his father, and had a great time. Grandpa would be proud.

Dr John's Memorial in Crystal Falls

Many things were planned that did not happen. Pennie put some pictures together for a slide show and I was to talk with it so I did not have to stand in front of the church where I was sure to cry. We worked on it through the week, but something would go wrong. The memorial was to be at 1:30PM, but we were to at the church at 12:30PM to visit before the service. We stayed in Iron Mountain 45 min. from Crystal Falls. We were still working at the slide show at 11:30. We were to meet Peter at Fabs Restaurant for lunch, the memorial was going to have only desserts. They had finished eating, but Pats kids were hungry so we ordered. I ordered toast and a egg, quick and easy. It took a half hour to get our meal. Fabs is not fast food, but it does have good food. We were late getting to the church.

This was not a bad thing it turns out. I came in the back way, and my circle was serving. They were in the kitchen so I got to greet them and was able to have a short visit with them.

It was hard going through a service twice but it was so very nice to be able to see our friends again. I also got to visit with members of the choir before the service. Our first Intern was there.

The service was very nice, but long. The one hour became two. Borning Cry was dropped. the flowers were beautiful, red roses.

On Friday at the motel the whole family was there, and we got to go swimming. On Sunday we went to one of Pats favorite restaurants in Iron Mountain B's. It has huge cinnamon rolls. We got three and shared.

Long day Sunday

I am writing this for the second time,because I can not get it to publish. It then disappeared.
I am shortening this now. Sunday service honored those graduating. After church Pennie and I worked in the SS office organizing last years SS material so it will be easy to get to when we decide to use it again. We were there for five hours.

Early Morning Surprise

Thursday night those interested in VBS gathered to do some more planning. Those gathered were excited at the way everything was going. Stations to teach were picked.


Saturday a Christian Ed meeting was called for at 9:00 AM. Pennie was on call, and had many calls out, one coming at 7:00 AM. She was to be off at 8:00 AM. It was five minutes to nine when I picked up the agenda on what I knew she wanted to discuss and headed out to the church. The back door was locked. I had Pennie's keys so I unlocked it and came in with the agendas. The superintendent office was open and two of the committee were sitting in the room. I was a bit surprised, but figured they had keys also. I noticed the cupboards were open and again I figured they opened them. Then Pastor came over and asked if we were the first people in the church, and if we noticed anything wrong with the locks. The lady who had the trouble with the talking parrot said she was there first and had let the others in. They noticed nothing wrong with the doors. Pastor said that his office was broken into, and the gift cards he gave to those who needed help were taken and a small amount of money he had in his desk was taken. Pennie came just at that time. So we explained what had happened. Pastor went back to wait for the police. We sat down to begin our meeting , when we noticed the safe which was not used but taking up our space was opened and a metal box with keys were laying on the floor. Then we noticed the door jam was pulled from the wall. Pennie's office was broken into also. We reported this to Pastor, and then we did a check of the other rooms. In the nursery we found where they had entered through the window. In the library where the food pantry is the door to it was open which is closed but not locked. Nothing was taken. There is a paddle locked door with items to give away which showed signs that there was an attempted to enter.


We made plans for next years SS. Another meeting was held to find out the teachers wants for their rooms, it was 1:00PM when we left the church a little unnerved.


The good part of this was there was no damage beyond what was done to break in. The large expensive copy machine, printer, and office equipment was not taken. We were also advised to not enter the place where they broke in by the police. I will leave you with that advise, if your office or home is broken into do not go in just call the police. To do that you have to be more observant than we are.

Fun Time

My oldest son had vacation last week so he and his wife came down here for a visit and to help me. I had boxes of items to go to Goodwill. They were loaded up and taken there. Then we went to Steins to pick flowers for Memorial day to put on Dr. Johns grave site. I did not want to plant this year because I was afraid that I would not be able to take care of those planted. I found a nice stand that would hold the beautiful flower basket I picked out. We went out to lunch at the Old Country Buffet.


On Saturday my daughter and I drove up north to Norway for my nephew's graduation party. We were a surprise. Coming in early gave us time to visit. The weather was perfect, although my sister-in law thought it was too warm.


Memorial Day we rested in the morning. I went out later to shop for items for my mantel, for the summer. In the evening we started to prepare for next years Sunday School. We are hoping that then my daughter will not have the stress during the actual teaching time.

Earlier in the week my sister and brother-in-law stopped over on their way up North for a family reunion on his side. We had a nice visit and we went out to eat at Oslos's. This is the place that was full so Pennie and I could not go. The road to get there is now all torn up under construction. It was hard to get to it, but it was open, and we were the only people there to eat.

The food was very good, and the choices were not your ordinary ones. I had Norweigen chicken. I am not sure of all that was on the chicken for sure cheeze, and mushrooms. It was served with new potatoes[ there was a potato choice] rutabager and a large beet slice.

I ho;e every one had a good Memorial Day.

Stiff Polly

When Dr John and i first married we got a parrot called Polly. I think Dr John did blog about Polly. When Pete was born we had to sell Polly. Dr John continued to want a parrot. Christmas a few years ago Walmart was selling these talking dancing parrots. I thought perfect parrot for Dr John. no clean-up. Polly's leg broke when we took it out of the box, but I taped it up, and Polly sat on the perch in the bedroom.
One of the rotations at Sunday School this year was Treasures in Heaven and it had a station in it that needed a parrot. We took Polly off the perch and she went to church and sat in the Palm tree the church has for decoration, and was used in the station that needed the parrot. Kids and adults would be startled when Polly would squawk hello. After the rotation was done Polly was placed in a box with the other items used in the rotation and was forgotten about.
There is a lady in the church who volunteers to clean-up the bathrooms after their use, and she takes care of the food pantry. While she was working last week she heard a voice saying hello. She looked around for who was in the church, because she thought it was empty. She could not find anyone. She went back to work. Again she heard hello. She did a search and after many hellos she found the box with the parrot. She took the parrot to her car to silence it. On Sunday she was telling another person about the parrot just as I came in the church after the sack race. I told her that was my parrot so she gladly went to her car and brought him to me. I turned off the button and silenced him and brought him home. Some gifts in up with many uses, and in places they were not intented to be.

Busy Weekend

The end of Sunday School had come for the year. My daughter, the Sunday School superintendent, had great plans for honoring the students , and the teachers. The students, and teachers were to get certificates, which a member of the Christian Ed. committee created and gave to my daughter to sign. My daughter also wanted to give a plastic red apple filled with candy to the teachers and a box filled with candy for the shepherds. My job, if I chose to take it, was to fill the apples and boxes with candy. Filling the boxes and apples was not hard, but tying small ribbons on them, not easy. My old fingers had difficulty with the bows. My daughter also wanted to give each teacher, shepherd, and the piano player a slide show of the year. Dr John had taken pictures during the Sunday School hour, and during the services. Pictures became fewer after his death, because you forget to take pictures while you are teaching. Pennie began the week before last Sunday collecting pictures, making sure each child had their picture and name on the slide show. Background music music came next. The close of the year was to be a family event with games and snacks to follow the the awards. My daughter found a shoe cookie cutter{explain later the significance of shoe}, she planned for cookies to be made.
The problem with her plan is that everything did not go smoothly. Her slide show kept crashing even though she bought a program that was to make the process easier. She had difficulty putting the music exactly where she wanted it. On Saturday evening I made the cookies, but I do not do decorations well. My idea is to frost then throw on sprinkles, not what she wanted. I went to bed at 1:00 AM Sunday morning. Pennie was not able to get a separate show for the pianist,or the students First Communion. She did get the the cookies decorated cutely.
Part of the last six week rotation was a shoe drive. The rotation before was a toy drive for the shelter. We got two boxes of toys. We did not expect too much for this drive although we advertised each week.
Sunday came. We were at the church at 7:00 AM to set up. I was in charge of the sack race. I brought out the games for the other teachers. Teachers , parents, and students arrive. Pennie began showing the slide show, using wall as a screen, as they arrived. Awards were given. The cookies, jello feet, cut out cheese of shoes, licorice shoe laces, and juice were eaten. The sack race, bean bag toss, hula- hoop contest, Pennie toss, and relay race were played. Questions were asked covering the year's learning, before the game was played making a review.
The children sang in church. They had two pieces. One was "God is so Great" and the other the Beatitudes. During the Beatitude song the children had duets, even the kindergarten children. Because of a Baptism, the children got to sit in the choir seats.
After the service ,Pennie had a meeting where they planned fund raisers for the next youth gathering. I had fellowship and ate cake.
Pennie took me home and she went to a Tupperware party. She bought, I stayed away so I would not buy.
We went to Olive Garden for supper. We went back to the church after supper to take care of the shoes brought in. There were bags and boxes to go through. We were ready to call it a day when we counted 225 shoes but as we were locking up the office I found two more boxes. We left them.
Story of the church parrot to follow.

Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's day. My class at church was fun. It was the fourth grade, and they knew the Beatitudes. They did a great job in making their Kingdom Cups. I had time to fellowship after the church service, because the students helped me in cleaning up after class.

My daughter took me out to lunch but where we wanted to go changed. At fellowship a lady recomended Oslo's for it's food and being quiet and peaceful. They were full, so we could not go there. Then we went to Olive Garden, and they had an hour wait. I looked over at Red Lopster and they had a line out side, so we went to Noodles. No line and very good food.

My sons and family gave me a call. Hope you had a great day too.

Comments on Storm

Many were brave or foolish and photographed the storm, we got to see the photos. I was glad to see their work.

I did have some of my siding come off, but it came off today. We had high wind gust today also. I am not sure what to do with a two foot piece. I wiped it down and stuck it back up on the house. I had comments from the different people who gave bids on the roof how badly the siding job was. One person showed me how there should be nails and there were none.

If you do not like to have consistent weather, Wisconsin is the place to be. We had 70 to 80 temperatures the end of last week and sunny, then it rained but was warm, followed by storms with tornado, clear and cool with gusting winds of 50mph came next. We are expecting snow next. They advertise to buy plants for Mother's Day to plant. Not for me I am waiting for June before anything is planted.

I am going to wish to all mothers a Happy Mother's Day. It is early but I may not get back.

Scary Evening

It all happened so fast. We were watching The Biggest Loser, when the news broke in and said there is a tornado warning. I said "that means they saw a tornado." Pennie said "Yes." The news begins to explain where it was sighted. Then the siren goes off. Pennie and I said together" That is where we are." The night before we had a tornado watch and we decided to go to Pennie's basement if we got a warning. We went out our back patio door, and ran over to Pennie's. I looked to my left and there was the angry cloud. I felt I was in the Wizard of Oz. We had a bit of a problem with the dog who did not want to go to the basement. When we were down in the basement Maggie wanted to explore. The basement had a TV and we continued watching the weather news. My basement has a battery run radio, in case we had to go down there. I forgot that. The electricity does not go out. We were in the basement for an hour. The tornado was moving away from us not toward us. There was damage to buildings, but no injury to people.
The scare made us forget that today was garbage pick up day. We missed the pick up, but we only had one bag this week.

Luke's Birthday

My grandson Luke will be 9 tomorrow. After church Pennie and I drove to Luke's house to celebrate his birthday. Before we went out to eat we went to Hazelwood one of the first large homes in the area. My granddaughter was giving the tour of the home. She volunteers, but had not been in the home for five weeks. She had not also given the tour on her own. This was the day she got to give the tour solo. She did a good job and we gave her a hard time with questions she did not have the answers for. There were no other visitors at this time, so it was a good practice. She got to discover items she had not noticed before. After our tour my granddaughter got to join us because she was through for the day. We went to Perkins, Luke's choice. We went back to the house for cake, and Luke opened his gifts from his sister and parents. Pennie and I will celebrate again on mother's day because it will also my son in Madison birthday.
We had an active morning at church, because the children in the kindergarten, and fourth grades got their bibles. Pennie because she is superintendent had to sign all the bibles and put the child's name in them. We did this on Saturday but as she was doing that she put the wrong name on one of the bibles. There was a white out pen but that did not work. She then wanted to put in a new dedication label. She had to get one more bible for a child who had not attended Sunday school all year, but because he got a letter he might show up. Pennie also thought that it would be nice to bring him the bible even if he did not show up. We had the bibles from before stored, and we wanted to get a bible that would be alike, but they are now out of print and had to get a new version. We then asked for a label, and the store did not have them, but would engrave the bible. Not what she wanted. She tried all Saturday night and Sunday Morning to get a nice dedication label made, she had one made, but it was too large . She had left the bible at church so it would not be forgotten. We went to church at 7:00 AM. I also had to set up to teach and I could not do that on Saturday because the Chippers were using the room I teach in. The chippers are wood workers. They do beautiful work. She could not sleep because she was disturbed about the name in the bible. Sunday morning she found a bottle of white out and it worked. Problem solved. Starting at seven it took me until the children were to enter my class to get the room prepared.
The Bishop was at the service. He gave the children's sermon with a puppet. He gave the adult sermon not in the pulpit, and he did a short prayer with the child and family as they received their bible. It was a very nice service. Each of the children who got a bible also got a backpack to carry the bible in.
I will explain why I had to take so long to set up. I have the art workshop[class}. We are making Kingdom Cups a symbol of their lives open to the Spirit's working in them. We are using Crayola Magic clay. A template of a rectangle is taped down covered by wax paper taped down. Each child gets a larger ball of brown or white clay and three small balls of red, blue and yellow clay. They also get gems, and a plastic knife, and a small rolling pen, and a paper cup. The time comes from taping down the papers, and making the balls of clay. I put the clay in small baggies. We are studying the Beatitudes. The art workshops covers the first and third. On Sunday I had the Kindergarten & first grade. Every class I have had loved making their cups.

Blogger Found.

I have been trying to blog for over a week , but not able to get here. I would sign in and then I would get a white page. This happened before, but one night it came back. This time I came in another way and it worked.
My friend called me last Saturday and asked me to go with her to the 66th Annual Fox Valleyaires Men's Barbershop Show. She won the tickets. She picked me up and we went the back roads into Appleton. There was a park I didn't know about that she showed me. There was also an island. It is occupied by large condos on the water , so all the land is privately owned. The show was very good. They had a group Lunch Break which was very funny.The Lunch Break repertoire includes barbershop, jazz, gospel and folk-hiphop fusion. The other guest Quartet was Skyline. Skyline won the Central States District Quartet Competition in 2009. The Valleyaires were very good.
Pennie had a bad car time last week. She had to go out of town, and her GPS sent her on a round about way home, which was good because her transmission went. If she went the direct way her car would have died out in the country. She was able to hobble into her work parking lot. This was the second transmission that went in five years. Her protection had expired on the car but not the transmission. There was no cost. She then put new tires on. She was told her tires were bad and needed changing, almost a year ago.
My son Peter and family came down Saturday and took me out for my birthday, he would have included Pennie for her birthday but Pennie went out to lunch with the other Pennie.[Former roommate also named Pennie.] We went to Applebees. I had the steak on the 550 calorie list.
It was just the right size. Nothing came home.
Hope I can blog again.

Snow

Snow came back to remind us about the winter. Next week we should be in the 70s. I still do not feel well, there is pain in my chest when I have to cough, and I am still doing that too often.
We have medicine for Maggie[the dog] to help her loose weight, and we lost the directions. I found them today. We should have increased the dosage a couple of weeks ago, and we are to bring her in tomorrow. We will bring her in to see how much she lost and tell the doc what happened.

Young cooking

There is a lady in our church who was and is interested in working with the youth from 6th grade to 8th grade. In a series of her meetings she provided cooking instructions. The children learned how to cook different foods. Then one evening they prepared a full meal. Pennie and I were invited to the meal. There were a few burnt edges on the potatoes and green beans but the meal was very good.
I am going to provide an answer why we did not go to Peters for Easter. Bree came down with what Pennie and I had. We still are coughing, and we did not want the chance to come down sick again.

I can blog.

I have not been able to get here to blog. My screen went white and moved no further.
Happy Easter!
I went with my daughter to see at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center" Little House on the Prairie"the Musical with Melissa Gilbert as "Ma". It was very good, but Melissa Gilbert did not perform. We went in the afternoon maybe that is why.
Pennie took me out to Red Lobster for my birthday. She does not like fish but she went anyway.
We also took a trip down to Madison to see my grandson get a certificate of honor. My son's X had the kids but she let them come out with us and my son for supper.
Pennie and I had Easter dinner alone, baloney sandwich, but the day before we were at Red Lobster. We did not need any more food.
Easter felt different. I went to Maundy Thursday service, Good Friday service and Easter. The Education Committee filled bags on Saturday and hid them Sunday for the kids. Toddlers got small stuffed animals and animal crackers placed in a very large plastic egg. The bible campers prepared and served Easter breakfast.

Dead Sea Scrolls, and more

On Saturday I went with 24 people on a bus to the Milwaukee Public Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I found it very interesting. There was just so much to take in in the time we had. I should have bought a book, to help in the memory of what I saw.
There was a bad part and that was I had a cold, and was not feeling the best, and I was soon very tired. I was introduced now to the museum and I can go back when I am feeling better.
Sunday I was still feeling bad, but I had to teach so the plan was to go home to bed after church. One of the ladies from my bible study group invited me to go with her to her son's church, the one on the end of my block, to eat. The youth prepare a meal once a month to raise money for a mission trip. Her daughter- in -law helped in the preparation of the meat sauce for the pasta. My friends granddaughter was not able to come. After the meal, my friend gave me a tour of the church. A friend of hers, and a member of the church is an artist, had a mural in the church, and she shared it with me. My friend asked if I had time to go for a ride. We went down to the park. In the park there is a museum which has a collection of paperweights. We went in and I learned about glass making. We called it a day then. I came home feeling much better.

Moving Slowly

Institutions do not move quickly. Insurance companies, banks etc. go at their speed not at the speed I would like them to move. When I am facing something I do not like to do, I face it right off the bat so the uncomfortable feeling will go away. Paper work is not something I like to do. and I started there, and now I am holding waiting for new checks and forms from one bank. The problem is I get stuck. There are probably other things I could be doing, so I am going to do other things today.
Pennie got the St Marks web page working but it still has problems.
I had the wrong date for the Dead Sea Scrolls trip. The trip is on the twentieth of March. I was ready last week, and then I checked the bulletin and saw the correct date. I have that to look forward to.
The service was a nice healing service last night. It was not attended well. There were more at the meal before the service. I did not go forward because I do not know what to ask for. A former pastor sang "In The Garden" all sang the chorus. The pastors sermon was on the difference of being healed, and a cure.

How am I doing?

I have been asked by many concerned friends how am I doing. I think I am doing well. I have my sad feel sorry for me time, but for the most part I am OK.
I have given this some thought. Thirty-five years ago Dr John developed fluid on the brain which acted like a tumor. They thought he might die. His heart stopped many times on the six block trip to the hospital. He had surgery in Green Bay Christmas Eve. He recovered.
Eight years ago in September he went into a coma, and the Dr. called me and said he was dieing and to call my children to come home. They sent him to the larger hospital in Marquette. They told me he was a dead man when he came in. God performed miracle after miracle. It was a very hard and scary time for me, for he was never out of danger. Dr John had many challenges in the six months he was there. He went home on a ventilator, which he used at night. It took three years and help from Mayo to get off the ventilator to the Bi Pap.
These eight years have not been easy for him. We may have had longer time if we have been able to get to Dr. Wilson. He just seemed to go down hill in the last two weeks before his death. He did not want to go to the hospital and face it all over again.
The eight years might have not been easy , but he got to see his grandchildren grow up. They worked on the model trains with him. Bree shared Pigeon Falls with him writing the Co-coo song. She wrote a story for his contest. The move to Neenah brought the family closer.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I thank God for the extra years He gave us. We found a new church family at St. Marks, and friends on the blog.
I attended the weekend visioning for St Marks. We looked at our strengths. We also thought about how we would like to see the church grow. We made plans and times for the changes.
This coming Saturday I am going with a group from St Marks to Milwaukee to the museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.

Help

My daughter has a problem in trying to keep up Dr John's St. Marks web page. She has a new home page constructed but can not get it into the old page. Is there help?

Life Goes On

I am doing ok. Evenings are the hardest, although my daughter has been here until late. I have been to two bible studies and the Lenten Service.
The service for Dr John was very nice. There was a representative from the Bishops office a former Pastor of my son spoke. Also a former intern now pastor and a former president of the congregation in the UP. Pastor Steve's sermon used Dr John's final page on his study on grief. He is buried in the cemetery opposite from our home. I can walk there. The flowers were beautiful but the cut flowers are now fading.
Leaving Dr John's page as it was for now. There have been requests to have the Sunday sermons printed and Pigeon Falls printed.

Thank You

I want to thank all who have come to me with their kind thoughts. I want to come to each individually, but I am not ready yet. I miss him so much. I know that my friend, brother, and Lord Jesus will be with me. The funeral will be on Thursday at 11:oo AM at St Marks in Neenah.
John's younger sister came home from the hospital to get stronger for the surgery in a month.

Sorrow

Dr John died Monday Feb. 15, 2010.
I am numb, just came from the funeral home.
We {my son and I} were taking him to the Dr. He had a rough morning and was going down hill.
At the stop light he slumped in his seat. They called the ambulance from the clinic. They tried to save him but could not.

John's sister

John's sister needs to have a valve put in. She is high risk but they are going to have it done. She is also in need of your prayers. Thank you for your support.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day
Dr John still sick in bed. New drugs do not seem to make a difference yet.

Updates

Dr John has been weaker. I called Dr. Office they said to call 911. He will not go so no use to call. I asked to talk to Dr and he was out of the office until Monday. I called home nursing places and they need a Dr. order. I called the Dr on call and and he increased pills and nebulizer treatments. I have an appointment for Monday morning.

Update

Not a good night or day for Dr. John. The equipment man came to look at the machine but not the Bi pap. He does not do those. He thought maybe I could get a nurse in to evaluate Dr. John's physical condition and he or she would call in a doctor. John wants to wait until Sunday to see if he would be back in ok health.

News after last post

Called Dr. but Doctor had to move to Fond du Lac because of flooding in clinic. Too far to travel because Dr. John needed Bi Pap at that time. Dr by phone increased the pills that took out water. He has improved since Sunday so he is dressing and can be on just O2. Thank you for your prayers.

End of January notes

On Wednesday Dr John went to the Dr. He was OK then but has been having a hard time since.
I will call the lung Dr and see what can be done. Asking for prayer.
Pat and the boys came up on Friday, and Peter came down. Saturday the boys built two bookcases for me for the study, and they took out the old microwave cart which I was using for a bookcase. It was falling apart. I now have a place for E-Bay boxes, paper and mailing material.
Pat also fixed Pennies toilet.














I

Raven challenge 95

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.


This week's words were: alternate reality, shadows, frantic, tomatoes, field, lilies, DVD,snow mobile, aggravation, music
And for the mini: grounds for divorce, pink panther, salutations, wavering, lasagne

Ten word:

Sandy Shore was frantic seeing shadows of creatures from the alternate reality world of no sound trying to steal the medallion from her. She did not have it, but knew that Knight her companion an invisible penguin was protecting it. To keep her calm, and not thinking about the aggravation that would come if they found her, she put on a DVD with soothing music and pictures of fields of tomatoes and lilies. A DVD of snow mobiles racing in the UP came next.

Mini:

If she were married her lasagne would be grounds for divorce. She was not married, and at this point in her life probably a very good thing thought Sandy Shore. Her life had become much too complicated, with an invisible penguin. In this world of hers there were panthers that were invisible also, but not pink panthers. She had finally left the TV and had made supper of lasagne. The door bell rang, and she went to the door. She wavered as to whether she should open it to the unknown gentleman in formal attire standing there. She decided to open it. "Salutations," he said.
Strange she thought. He had a large smile, but she found that she felt that it was false. He pushed his way into the apartment . He was talking , more like rambling on and on about her fine apartment, and the smell of the burned lasagne. He was looking intensely around as he talked.
He went into her bedroom, grabbing her jewelery box tossing its contents unto the bed. Sandy picked up her cell phone, and started to dial the police, angry at herself for not doing that immediately . The stranger noticed her actions, and hit the phone out of her hands.
"Where is it?" he asked.
" Where is what?"
" The medallion ?"
" I don't know what you are talking about."
It seemed like a force hit his legs, and he fell to the floor. A pot of left over lasagna hit him on the head. He was still on the floor. Sandy's Knight to the rescue.

Raven's Challenge 94

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

10-word challenge are: space cadet, silver lining, wood, turtle soup, minaret, ice, grease, sales, mandala, mug


And for the mini: broken bones, slide rule, garbage, Chinese, sanguine

I am not doing a Raven's challenge because I smashed my fingers yesterday while taking down the Christmas decorations to the basement. I had to carry a large box so I put it on Dr. John's chair that goes to the basement. At the bottom I turned to lift the box off the chair and it got stuck. I pulled and the chairs button got hit and my hand was wedge between the box and the wood railing. with the chair heading back up the stairs.
I didn't have any broken bones but the hand was bruised. I put an ice pack on the hand. I got to use a word, that might be a silver lining. I did not drink turtle soup from a mug. That is the best I can do.

Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year to all.

May God Bless You.
I hope I am able to get healthier this coming year.