Why Is Monday Always Wash-Day?

Welcome Jane from Naples, Florida.  

Thanks you for the lovely comment.

Glad you found me from Ernestine's woods.  

She is a love, isn't she.

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I know there is some kind of history on why Monday is wash day.  Tuesday was/is ironing day.  Wednesday was baking day.

I am a structured person, so I always do laundry on Monday.  Although when I had my nine-room house to care for, I did "certain" laundry on certain days.

Monday I did the whites and the bedding, and cleaned bedrooms.
Tuesday, I did bath towels, kitchen towels and cleaned the bathrooms.
Wednesday, I did colored clothes, which were folded and put in baskets set on the stairs for the kids to take up and put away and I mopped and cleaned the kitchen and entryway.
Thursday, I baked bread and cookies and pies and cake and laundered the dark colored clothes.
Friday was the day to vacuum and dust the living room and dining room--as the other rooms had been done on their special days.
Saturday, I washed the car, mowed the lawn and weeded the gardens.
Sunday, I went to church and crocheted or cross stitched the rest of the day while watching whatever the hubs wanted to watch on TV.

That schedule worked perfectly for me.  At least part of the house was neatened up and clean.  This schedule was posted so the kids knew what clothes to have in the hamper.  If you forgot to get your white blouse in the hamper by Monday morning, you either had to launder it yourself or wait until the next Monday. 

Yes--with 3 teenagers and a baby, I had to have a schedule and it worked great.

Now, with this wee house and maybe 4 loads of laundry a week--no need for that schedule, but I still do laundry on Monday and change the bedding and tidy up the bedroom and bathroom.
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One of my blog buddies mentioned a new TV program on her post the other day.  Since Downton Abbey has been canceled and there is absolutely nothing on Sunday night viewing, I clicked on PBS and lo and behold, a Masterpiece show all about Queen Victoria.  It was lovely!!  The show that came on after wards is all about Henry the VIII's wives--in order of their marriage's to the nasty man.

Now, I love historical stuff.  I will watch any biography, any documentary of famous people.  I watched one this afternoon on Tiger Woods.  A lot of the truth comes out, which normally wouldn't from a News source.  There is a another documentary coming up--can't remember when, called "After Camelot" and explores the lives of not just Jackie and JFK, but the entire Kennedy family.

Anyway, Sunday night at 9:00 on PBS, it's a good as Downton Abbey and supposedly, true.
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I finished up the cross stitch baby quilt on Saturday night.

and had promised myself to get started on the Nativity cross stitch.

but, as it often does, something got in the way.

I used to have a silk flower sway above my back door.  Karen made it for me in 1992.  This fall, I had to toss it out.

I have been wanting a cross stitch picture up there ever since, but it is a narrow space--6".  I created and made this one of my childhood "spaces", but I got carried way and it got too wide.

Well, New Year's Day, I just happened to be browsing through the Stitchery magazine and.....

The total design height is 3".

Silly people!!!Of course I ordered it.  

Started it yesterday afternoon.

If I get the narrowest of frames, it should be 4 1/2 inches in height.  Just perfect to fit above the back door.

Also, remember that crocheted all in one piece cardigan that I couldn't understand the pattern?

I contacted the place where I had purchased the pattern and, they gave me some help and yes--I had it right--it is supposed to look like this at Row 27:

It's a mystery, isn't it?

Apparently (hopefully) when I get up to the top of the sleeve, there is going to be a change.

Those strips are supposed to be the left front and back.  I can tell you this, the back part better increase, because this is an XL size and my back is way wider that that one strip.  HAH!

This Woman's Movement

I don't quite get it--another double standard.  

Who were the women talked about and recognized by the speeches, at the Women's March in DC?

Susan B. Anthony.  Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug?  Was Kellyanne Conway recognized as a woman who had achieved something no other woman had achieved?  She is the very first woman in history to organize and run a winning Presidential campaign.  Was she praised and recognized on Saturday, for her accomplishment?  Probably not.

Back in the day, while I was reading "The Total Woman", those early feminists were reading "The Second Sex".  Then they started telling me, on the TV programs, that I was "unfulfilled."  After all, I was just a housewife and mother.  I needed a career, outside the home, to really find all my potential and be fulfilled.

Then the whole premise of "choice" came up.   A woman has a choice to do whatever she wants with her body.  Well, yes, I agree.  When it comes to what she wears, or piercings, or tattoos, or hair style.  I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that abortion was not legal in Michigan when I was having children!

I got pregnant 2 months before I graduated from high school.  My Dad was pushing me to get an abortion.  My Aunt, a nurse, knew a doctor that would do it.  I was told that foregoing college and having the child would, "ruin your life."  I stood fast and did not kill my son--the only son I would ever have.   Then, when I found out I was pregnant again, so soon, I tried everything I knew to have a miscarriage.  I jogged, I jumped off the porch, I took hot baths and laxatives.  I so did not want to be pregnant.

If, in those first few weeks, there was a way to have an abortion in Michigan, in those first few weeks, I just might have killed my first daughter.  Because, in those first few weeks, it really isn't a baby--there is no heart beating, right?  It's just a mass of cells that could be swept away by a simple D&C.

I had no such thoughts with my third child, but 10 years later, when I was pregnant again, thankfully abortion wasn't legal in Michigan, because I was pressured by my husband and step-mother--"There are easy ways to get rid of it."  

Abortion was then legal in New York.  My husband had it all figured out.  We would travel to New York, I would have "it" done and we would spend the weekend there.  A fun time.  I refused.

This was the only baby I had planned.  Wanted more than anything.  Had prayed for.

Two weeks later, he brought up the subject again.  If I didn't go along with his choice, he would leave me.  I refused and he did.  

The funny thing is, I knew I was pregnant, but the pregnancy tests the doctor ran said, I wasn't.  So I told my husband about the tests, and 5 weeks later he came back home.  Every month, I had a pregnancy test and it came back negative.  It was only at the four and a half month stage that I felt "life".  I went back, told the doctor, he said, "Either you are pregnant or you have the fastest growing tumor I have ever seen."  AHA!   Thankfully, the doctor didn't suggest we "remove" the tumor.

Too late now to spend a weekend in New York.  No ultra sounds back then to see what was going on inside.  Four and a half months later, a beautiful 9# 4 oz. baby girl was born.   Her Dad loved her immediately. 

So when the feminists talk about choice, Yes--we have a choice and I made mine.  I, like many of my friends, choose to get an education, married and have our children.  THEN--when the children were in school all day, if we chose--we went to work and had our "fulfilling" careers.  Or, if we chose, we waited until the last one graduated and still very young, in our early 40's, we had careers.

I did get far more praise and recognition when I went to "work", than I ever did being a housewife and Mother.  What is more important?  The money you make for the company you work for, or raising loving, confident, well adjusted children?

I can honestly tell you, I NEVER felt unfulfilled by choosing to stay home and be a housewife and mother, in fact, it was far more fulfilling than the years I spent out there in the work force.

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Then the feminists campaigned that women must be equal to men.  Well, that's just baloney!  Women are far superior to men and always have been!  My mantra to my girls, "Don't ever lower yourself to be equal to a man.  Our bodies, our way of thinking and doing things, our way of speaking and living are far above what any man is capable of doing."

I also told them, "When it comes to your education and career, you can be and do anything you choose to do."  and they did.  

One choose to marry young and be a housewife and mother.  After 5 miscarriages, she chose to help her Grandfather on the farm and found great joy in that.  She knew how to plow the straightest furrow, birth a calf, milk the cows and even took a class with her Grandfather, on artificial insemination.  So she can plant the "seeds" for that calf and then help birth it.

The next one, chose to get a college education, marry young, have 5 children, home school them, and then, when they started high school, get her Master's and teach full-time.

The next one, took my words to heart.  She chose to get her college education, then spend a year in Spain, then move to Boston where she knew no one, and get her PhD in Juris Prudence.  Then marry, have children and work as an attorney.  She always said, "I'll work for a few years, then stay home with the kids."  She didn't.  She missed out on a lot of their firsts. Her Nanny got to experience all of that.  Now the kids are going to be graduating in the next few years and she may be realizing what she missed.  She didn't really have much of a choice because her job basically maintained her family. 
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To my way of thinking, I am the lucky one.  Thank you so much Gloria for stirring up my life by telling me I wasn't fulfilled as a woman.  If I had a career, early on in my adult life, would I now have more money to live on--a nice pension.  Probably.  But you know what, I don't have any lingering regrets and thoughts about, "I wonder what that mass of cells might have been."   

I saw every "first" my children did.  I was a Room Mother I made more dang cupcakes for the class parties then I care to remember.  I was a PTO member.  I was on the Curriculum Committee at the high school, when the men on that committee thought it was ridiculous to equip the school library with two computers--the school principal and I won that fight!  I worked with the Little League Baseball and 4-H softball programs.  

When the school didn't have a bus they could use to take the girls to their Cross Country tracks meets, I loaded those kids in my 7 passenger station-wagon and drove them wherever their meets were.  The same with the Freshmen boys baseball team.

I chaperoned high school dances and set up the school's annual carnival.  I worked Friday night fish fry's for the band--although the smell of frying fish made me gag. My barn was where the kids made their Homecoming floats and I sat with them and made big flower decorations out of tissue paper.  I sewed uniforms for the newly organized Flag Girls for the marching band because there wasn't enough money in the band's budget.   

Would I have had time to sit in a protest or march with a placard?  Oh hell no!  I was way too busy living my unfulfilled life!!! 

Do women have a choice?  Sure--we always have!  What I don't like is trying to force "their" choice onto me, by telling me I am not quite as intelligent or as important as they are.  (I have actually been called "stupid" on Face Book by a few of my Liberal female friends, because I may have disagreed with their political views.)  

Hey--you do your thing, okay?  I'm not going to tell you that your choice is wrong--for you.  Just give me some respect for the choices I made and remember, it was your Mother who gave you the choices you now have.

Mysteries

I have a lot of mysterious questions in my life, like---

Why do we call this a Grilled or Toasted Cheese sandwich, when it is basically fried?

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Why is it when I buy my Diet Pepsi liters from Walmart, I have to use an adjustable wrench to get the caps off, but when I buy it at Meijer, I can twist them off comfortably with my fingers?

Why is it, I mailed a Christmas card to a friend.  It came back stamped, "Address Unknown", yet when I sent her a Thank You card a week later, it never came back.  Same person, same address, she received it.
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Jennifer gave me a pre-loaded Visa Debit card for Christmas.  $50.00.  When I tried to use it yesterday, it wouldn't go through.  I came home and called the company that sold these gift cards.  They checked.  I have a balance of $12.00.  They told me the places the gift card had been used: $1.00 Mc Donalds, $37.00 Toys R Us--towns in California.

I told them I lived in Michigan.  The card was securely fastened in its Gold cardboard packaging--how did it get used?

Maybe an employee working at the card company, stuffing gift cards into their packaging, took a card with her on lunch time and made some purchases, then came back, put the card in the packaging and the company sold it on-line to my daughter.

They are supposed to be sorting this all out, but...I had to download, fill out four forms, send photos of the card, and mail it to the company in Pasadena, CA.  I wonder if I will ever get my Christmas gift.
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Why is there this political double standard in America?  When the Tea Party held protests, the Liberals were furious.  When the Liberals held the Occupy Wall Street protests, the Conservatives were furious.  When President Eisenhower played a lot of golf, the Liberals were furious.  When President Obama played a lot of golf, the Conservatives were furious.

When JFK supposedly "stole" the election in 1961, the Conservatives were furious.  When George Dubya supposedly "stole" the election, the Liberals were furious.  When George Soros paid and bussed in Liberals to protest, the Conservatives were furious.  When Conservative Bikers are headed to DC, the Liberals are furious.  

Why is it okay for one group, but the same thing done by the other group, is not okay with the first group?  

Why is "tolerance" the buzz word for both groups, but neither one practises it?

"A house divided against itself, cannot stand."  Abraham Lincoln.

What's bad for the goose is also bad for the gander--right?

Tuesday--this and that.......

DETROIT - General Motors announced a $1 billion investment in its U.S. factories.

The company also announced it will begin work on insourcing axle production for its next generation full-size pickup trucks, including work previously done in Mexico, to operations in Michigan, creating 450 U.S. jobs.

“As the U.S. manufacturing base increases its competitiveness, we are able to further increase our investment, resulting in more jobs for America and better results for our owners,”  said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “The U.S. is our home market and we are committed to growth that is good for our employees, dealers, and suppliers and supports our continued effort to drive shareholder value.”

The announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump has attacked GM and other automakers for building vehicles in Mexico and shipping them to the U.S.

Earlier this month, Trump threatened on Twitter to tax GM for importing the compact Chevrolet Cruze. While GM builds hatchback Cruzes in Mexico, most Cruze sales are Ohio-built sedans.

Changes already.  It's a good thing--especially for the depressed area around Detroit.

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Mr. Trump annoys me, when he speaks.  I can't imagine him giving a deep, profound inauguration speech, without a lot of "this is going to be YUGE", or arm swinging or any of the faces he makes.  

Of course, he hasn't yet learned how to be or look Presidential.  To me, he acts like he's still campaigning.  He certainly does not have the polish of a politician.  Maybe that's a good thing?  I'll wait a while before I judge the job he does.

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Watched a real interesting show on PBS tonight at 10:00.  The second part if on tomorrow night, same station, same time.  It recapped the first couple of years of Obama's presidency.  Boy--he had it tough!  I had quite forgotten 2009 and the Tea Party protests.  The mistakes Obama made, that he talked about, and the emotional feeling he had after the 2010 election when the Republicans took over the House.

It wasn't biased at all.  People from both camps talking frankly about what happened and how things were changed from that time on.  It was almost like a biography and I actually enjoyed it.
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Nothing much else going on around here.  Schools were closed today because of ice build-up on the country roads.

John called.  He was at Meijer and they had Pepsi on sale--10 for $10.00 with the 11th one free.  He got me 11 and dropped them off this evening.  Bless his pea-picking heart!  Then we sat and HE chatted for an hour about his job as custodian at the high school.  He has earned enough money to buy a new stove and fridge and has nearly enough to get a new furnace and new windows.

He always said that when his dog, Maizey died, he would move back to town, but with the money he's putting into his place, I don't think he will.  He sure wouldn't recover what it is costing him if he sold.

I walked up to visit Merle and Pearl.  He's doing great, she is declining rapidly.  They unsubscribed their Internet service because Pearl can't figure out how to "'work" the computer anymore.  She can barely walk around the house, but is back in PT again.

Merle walks or rides his bike everyday--depending on the weather--and after the garbage men come to pick up the trash, Merle comes out and picks up the garbage cans and brings them up to the porch, for about half a dozen neighbors.  Once they put him on the meds for Parkinson's, he has improved back to the way he was 3 years ago--it has been amazing to see.

Pblett Day

WOW!  I didn't expect you all to sign-in, but so glad you did and made the appropriate additions to my list entitle: My Blog Buddies.

I still don't know who stops in from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, or Owatonna, MN, or Flushing, MI.
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We have had a day of gray, freezing mist.  Not exactly rain, but mist that freezes a coat of ice on everything.  I am NOT going out there, even though my cats only have one day's dry food left.  Hopefully tomorrow will be more stable for driving my car?
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MLK Day.  Looking back, I appreciate the man more and more and personally, I think President Obama undid in eight years what Dr. King fought and died for.

I thought we were coming along pretty good with our civil rights for everybody policy and now--it feels (to me) like we are much worse off than we were in the mid 50 & 60's.

I thought that this President would do so much for his race.  I could see him bringing real hope and change for them, but all I see is more hatred--mostly from the Blacks.  He didn't speak to them of peaceful protests.  Non-violent protests.  He rather gave them an entitlement that they could riot, and kill and do whatever they wanted and he certainly wouldn't chastise them.  Sometimes I even felt like he was encouraging them.  He is no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for sure.

I have always had great respect for John Lewis.  He marched with Dr. King.  He took a lot of abuse in Dr. King's non-violent protests.  It seemed, finally we were all becoming aware of the injustices and working together to correct them.  

Now, that same man wants a protest at the inauguration?  Al Sharpton wants a violent protest. 

Back in the day, I joined Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition.  I was even for  Affirmative Action, until it bit my own daughter.  She graduated 1st in her class.  I was divorced with low income and she couldn't get one stupid college grant, because she wasn't Black or Latino.  Reverse discrimination.  

Can you even imagine if "people of non-color" had protested at President Obama's inauguration?  We would have been called "racists, Nazi's, White Supremacist's" and arrested, if we weren't shot first.

I just wonder who the real racists are nowadays.

Ain't it the truth...............

How could I possibly hate someone who voted the opposite way I did?  In my family we have Democrats, Republicans, Green Party and other strange party's I've never heard of who write in their vote.  This last campaign and election has seen many people lose friends.  It's ridiculous!!!
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I am so curious--new people coming to stop by this blog and I don't know you.  Can you leave me a comment with your name and where you're from?  Corner Brook, Newfoundland.  Owatonna, MN.
Flushing, MI.

You see, I keep a list of all my blog buddies, with your name and where you're from.  That way, I can look at my side bar to see who stopped in, by the town listed, and check my list, and even though you don't comment, I can visualize you.

I may have to resort to a full roll call of everyone, and you know, that's no fun.  LOL

OH! Isn't this counted cross stitch going to be fun?

... and I cannot start it until I get the baby quilt done!!!  This is going to be large and gorgeous, when it is finished.  Ready for next Christmas!!!

Thursday is garbage pick-up day and this morning, I waited until it quit raining and scooted out to take the garbage can to the street.  Not realizing that the rain had been freezing on, I almost took a "seater" off the porch.  My right foot slipped on the ice and I grabbed the railing just in time!

I had to inch down the driveway, holding the can in one hand and hanging onto the iced over car with the other.  I made it though and then walked on the grass to get back to the porch.  
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I am considering NOT watching the inauguration.  I didn't watch Trump's press conference yesterday and I didn't watch Obama's farewell speech.  There is still a lot of rancor "out there" and on Face Book about the election.  The Trump people are still posting negative stuff about the Liberals and the Liberals are still posting angry stuff about Conservatives.  I don't really consider Trump a Conservative.  I am a Conservative, or thought I was.  Apparently the definition has changed and now, I don't know what my title is, and really don't care.  

Anyway, I sure hope Trump is a good President, even though I cannot stand his personality and I don't want to listen to his voice for his inauguration speech.  I can catch the high points (?) on the News later in the day.  

Of course, the national news is still bashing him, which I think is very unfair, but then, they tend to be more Liberal than polite to an incoming President.  I don't like the double-standard.  Liberals bashing the incoming and Conservative's aren't allowed to bash the outgoing.

Oh well--it is as it is.  They think they are going to have a rough 4 years ahead of them, I feel we have had a rough eight years behind us.   

I have voted in 14 elections for 11 Presidents.  Some of them were good, some were mediocre and we lived through all of it.  I guess we'll live through this one.

But, I still think I don't want to listen to his inauguration address.  

Just as I was in the midst of yet another.........

nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I'll go eat worms mood, Pammie called me.

I hadn't heard a word from any family members since Christmas.  Had I tried to call any of them?  Of course not!  They all are so busy and have different schedules and by the time I'd think to call, it was too late at night.

Pammie and I had a nice laughing conversation for 53 minutes.  I hung up the phone and it was a call from Karen.  We talked for about 35 minutes and then, Karen came over to bring Christmas gifts Jennifer had sent to her house.

Nice gifts from Jennifer, but my favorites included in the shipping box?  Thank you notes from the 4 grand kids.  I miss Jennifer's oldest boy Andrew, so much I ache.

I moved down here, just as they were moving here from Massachusetts.  Andrew was 9 months old at the time.  I took care of him a lot while Jen and her hubs were working and watching over the home construction.  He was the smartest kid I had ever met.  Even at three, he would ask the most profound questions and it got so we'd have some really deep conversations--every time I saw him.  Then last year, they moved to New Jersey.

In Andrew's thank you note, he said he was saving his money for his car.  CAR?  Oh.  Yes.  I forgot.  He's 15 1/2 now.  The last time I saw him, on his 13th birthday, he was almost as tall as me.  I would guess, he's probably taller now.

Those kids aren't on Face Book and don't have e-mail accounts so I really can't communicate with them except by normal mail.

When there is family news of any kind or photos taken, my girls and sister and grand kids all text each other.  I don't have a cell phone and they forget to e-mail me the info.

So--did the notes and the gifts and the phone calls make me feel better?  Momentarily, but in the long run, it just makes me realize how I am "out on the fringe" of their lives.

I remember all the things we used to do together and, oh, how I wish I could go back and do it all over again!
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Helene & me at the Saginaw Zoo--1997

Planting Daffodils with Helene & Stephen

Susanna--a weekend at Gramma's
and every X-country track meet she was in

Planting Daffodils with Marcus and a weekend at Grammas 

and going to every baseball, track meet he was in.

Stephen-a weekend at Gramma's and every baseball game he played.

Madeleine--a weekend at Grammas and Putt Putt golf and every piano recital, band concert

and ballet she's performed in.

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Andrew--

13th Birthday supper

Elise

Alex

Maddie, Andrew, Elise, Baby Alex--Detroit Zoo

8th Birthday Supper

Evan

Sigh

Snowed in and hurting..............

Della's first day at the baby sitters.  Not even 3 months old.  She looks like she is trying to figure it all out.  Poor baby!  At least her Mommy only has to work 3 days a week.

Those big eyes, her forehead and hairline look just like her Grandma, Karen.  Karen and I see it from her baby photos.  The rest of the family thinks she looks like her Daddy.  So we "pretend" when they are present, but.........Karen and I know.  LOL

Karen at 9 months old.  It's the eyes, isn't it?

I can't type too much today--it's a bad day for Arthritis.  Every joint in my fingers, hands, wrists and shoulders are swollen and achy.  Not just achy, but the knuckles in my hands and my wrists throb.  I can't take anti-inflammatories because I am on a blood thinner, so my only course is Tylenol X-tra Strength.  Tylenol has never helped with any pain, but....I gotta try something.

Good luck to me trying to crochet or cross stitch today.  ARGGH!!

Wondering................

why my gray hair looks blonde in that last photo?

What is this?

Actually, it is the left arm and left front of a cardigan that is crocheted all in one piece.  Something just doesn't look right, according to the directions, which are vague at best.  On this row, the instructions say to, dc (double crochet) 60 stitches, dc 60 more stitches and dc the last 60 stitches.

BUT, there are only 120 stitches on that row and for the life of me, I can't see where the pattern has told me to make a chain foundation row for the 60 stitches to the right, which would be part of the back.

It's suppose to look like this when finished.  I don't see that happening.  So I "frogged" ( rip-it, rip-it) it back to the top of the arm, threw it in my crochet basket and went back to cross-stitching on a baby quilt.  GEEZ LOUISE!!!

When I fed the cats last night, Maggie didn't come to their "feeding station".  "You want some food?" is all I have to say and they both run to their feeding dishes for their tablespoon of wet food.  

Maggie just sat on the couch and looked at me.  So....I took her food to her.

I'm wondering, for a person who expects animals to "mind me", why I did this?  If it were a child of mine, when "Supper's ready", was called, if one refused to sit at the table, they went without.

I always feel better emotionally...........

when I get my hair cut--------

17 degrees for the next few days, with a wind chill making it feel like single digit temperatures, and I decide to get my hair cut.   Weird Woman!!!

Back to normal.....

whatever that is.  Boring, for sure.

Christmas Day I rode up 25 miles with Merle and Pearl's daughter Marge and her daughter and grand daughter, to her brother's house for supper.  What a strange bunch.  Merle & Pearl's son, Vic, is the oldest of the siblings and he doesn't talk.  He just stand or sits and watches what is going on around him, and if you ask him a direct question, he might mumble a yes or no, that's it.  Usually he doesn't even look up.  His wife, who I like, is slightly drunk all the time.  Maybe that is why she is so friendly?

Merle and Pearl's 2nd child, Cathy, has a high pitched giggle and she uses is all the time.  Every word she speaks is followed by that screeching giggle.  Her husband, who I think is very mannerly and nice, I am told, is a fake.  He just acts that way in front of people.

Merle & Pearl's 3rd child is Margie--she lives in the park and is the one mainly involved in her parent's life.  She wears her blonde hair down below her bottom and wears very, very thick make-up
and smoke like a chimney.  She is a nice person however, at least she is nice to me.

All the men in the family wear their baseball or hunting hats in the house--all the time.  I've never seen any of them without their hats on, including when I have gone out to restaurants with the group.  They all sat out in the attached garage, that apparently Pearl's son has made into a man-cave, with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  When it was time to eat, their women took their plates out to them.  They never came in with the rest of the family.

Pearl said loudly, "Where's the Lasagna?"
Marge said, "There isn't any."
The hostess said, "I forgot to get it."
Pearl:  "I was promised there would be Lasagna.  If you told me, I'd had Merle pick some up at Gordon's!"
The hostess:  "Sorry, I forgot."
Cathy:  "There's ham and scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole.  Salad, cookies, cake and ice cream.  What more do you need?"  GIGGLE
Pearl: "Lasagna. Oh well, nobody keeps me informed of what's going on anymore, anyway!"

They don't open their gifts at the same time, all sitting in one room, when a child passed by Pearl, she handed them a present.  No thank you from the child.  By the end of the evening, she didn't know who she had given gifts too and had one left over that she fretted about.

I saw Margie hand her sister-in-law a gift and the sister-in-law sat it down on the table and walked away.  Apparently she would open it later?

Their daughter Cathy handed me a McDonald's gift card.  I made a big deal over it, thanked her and hugged her.  Later when I got home, I looked at it.  It was for a cup of coffee and it expired on December 26, 2016.  I don't drink coffee, but it was a nice gesture.

Weirdest Christmas get together I have ever attended.

For this picture, Pearl kept saying, "Wait, I'm not ready. Wait!"  Her daughter Cathy kept clicking and all three photos turned out the same with Pearl saying the same thing.  In one photo she does have her eyes closed.

Merle and Pearl rode home with us, for the first twenty miles, Pearl kept saying, "I just don't understand how she could forget Lasagna!  Of course, she's not that great a hostess.  It's a wonder she didn't forget we were coming at all."

Finally Marge said, "Mom!  Will you shut up about the damn Lasagna!  I'll go to Gordon's tomorrow and get you some!"

Merle and I sat in the back seat and didn't say a word all the way home.

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Karen gave me a half a ham for Christmas.  I had mentioned that I was craving a thick ham sandwich.  Do you know how big half a ham is?  The one she gave me looks like the whole dang hog!!!!!!!!  Did I ask her why she got me such a big ham?  Of course not!  I made a big deal over it and thanked her and hugged her and thanked her again.  Hey, it was a sweet gesture from her.

I sliced off many slices and ate ham every meal for two days, until I thought I'd throw-up if I ever smelled ham again.  Then I put the rest of the slices in the freezer.  I ate macaroni and tuna salad for the last three days.  As you can see, my menu is nothing to write home about.

I buy something and then I eat it for lunch and supper, until it's gone.  Then I get something else and do the same.  Food means nothing to me anymore.  I don't even taste what I eat--it is only to get some protein in me to keep from fainting.

Today, I have some of the ham and the ham bone in the crock-pot, along with one big potato, a small cabbage, a large onion and a dozen or so baby carrots.  It does smell good and will be a warm supper for me.  It will probably make me sick!!
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Of course I binged on football games all weekend and yesterday.  Today feels like Monday because of the games yesterday, which would normally be on New Year's Day, but because it fell on a Sunday this year, and NO college bowl games are allowed to be televised on a Sunday--it is reserved for NFL games, the college ones were yesterday.

WHEW!  Got all that?

So I sat and watched and cross-stitched and was pretty comfy.
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Now--it's back to our normally scheduled programming.  Which means for me:

Get all the January birthday cards made and addressed, today.
Hair cut tomorrow at 2:45.  Take garbage out before bedtime.
Bank and Walmart, Thursday, 2:30
Laundry, dust and vacuum on Friday.
College basketball on Saturday.

There might be some surprises along the way, but I doubt it.  I find comfort in my scheduled, routine, ordinary life.

Praise God for an ordinary life!

Five Years--seems like yesterday.......

It is said, when we quit looking for love, it will find us.  We both were to the point in our life when we were content to live alone.  Both had given up the superficial dating scene.  I guess, at that point, God decided we were finally ready to find each other.  There is no way we should have/could have met, if it hadn’t been for divine intervention.  

February 27, 2005.  Our first date at a lovely restaurant, after an hour, the waitress came and asked if there was something wrong with our food as neither one of us had eaten—so busy talking back and forth across the table in our booth.  Talking about our “broken roads”, so many of the same experiences.

He was the kindest, coolest, most loyal, trustworthy, honest, handsomest and faithful man I had ever known.  So much in common, it was like we had known each other for years and years. Never one disagreement in our 7 years together.  How could you disagree with someone who was just like you?  Same background, same ideals, same beliefs, same values.  It would be like disagreeing with yourself.

I have never believed in the whole “soul mate” stuff.  If it does exist, we had it. 

We had a wonderful, comfortable, content time together.  The only thing we didn’t have in common—he loved to watch NASCAR, I didn’t.  So, he’d watch and I’d sit in the chair next to him and crochet or cross stitch and make “YAY,” comments at appropriate times and be content.  I did love to watch softball, and a good thing as he played 3 nights a week.  We even got engaged before a softball game.  I will never remove the ring he slid on my finger.

Then, 2 days after Christmas 2011, he had to go to hospital for breathing problems. We had been through this before.  Three days later they decided--a “simple procedure” they said, to “Help him breathe and get the infection out of his lungs”.  I went down to the hospital, early New Year’s morning.  We talked and hugged, and then I had to leave his room, while they did the simple procedure

 “Love you, Honey,” he said. Gasping for air.  “See you soon.”  “I love you too, Sweetheart,” I said as I hugged and kissed him and walked out of his room.  We had been through these hospital scares so many times in our years together, but this time, something didn’t feel right to me. 

Five minutes later, the Respiratory Tech stepped out of his room, “We’ve got him on the breathing tube, he’s doing just fi….,” even before she got the whole sentence out of her mouth, the Code Blue announcement and blue light came on over his door—and I knew.  Sure, they tried to revive him—for 20 minutes they tried.  But I knew.

His nurse came out of his room, sobbing, and walked quickly around the corner.  His pulmonary specialist came out of his room, tears in his eyes as he held my hands and told me how sorry he was.   All of his care-givers, each time he was in hospital, had grown to admire and love him.  

Many of the same ones’ who had cared for him before, even Sarah, the nurse, who had taken care of him after his heart surgery- from the ICU floor below, was there that morning.  The many times he had been in that same hospital, on that same floor--even the aides had heard our love story.

They had heard he was to have the simple procedure, and wanted to be with him.  The familiar faces all came up to me.  They came with words of consolation, tears in their eyes.  I comforted them.

A Priest came and asked if I wanted to go back into the room so he could bless him.  I wondered to myself, “A priest?  We are both Protestants.”  But we were in a Catholic hospital, so I agreed.  It was a beautiful blessing.  The Priest made the sign of the Cross on his forehead.  At a time like that, it matters not, if it was a Vicar, a Minister, a Rabbi or a Priest.  We all love and serve the same Lord.

I bent over and smoothed back his hair, kissed his temple, laid my face against his cheek and whispered in his ear, “Be with God, Sweetheart, I’ll see you soon.”

As I drove home, with his belongings piled in the back seat of my car, I couldn’t even cry.  I just kept saying, “Thank you, God.  Thank you, God”, over and over, all the way home.  I was so grateful that I had finally known such a wonderful man who actually, truly loved me.

That morning, before I left for the hospital, I had put the invitations to his 70^th birthday party into the mail box.  I had rented a room at a beautiful restaurant. The party would be in just 15 days.  Everyone in our families had been invited. His two daughter's from Florida were flying in for the "party".  Little did they know, Fred had contacted his minister friend and we were to be married that afternoon.  I had my dress picked out.  I was going to order it on Monday, January 2nd.

When I got home, I got the invitations out of the mail box and threw them, forcefully, into the trash can. 

It would never be.

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It has been 5 years.  5 years is the cut-off date for “active grieving”, or so “they” say, but I don’t think we ever “get over” our loved ones death, especially a husband.  Yes, we learn to live with it and not grieve every single day, but that sadness stays in that spot in our heart and soul, and comes to the forefront of our mind on every yearly “sadiversary”.

It was the most beautiful 7 years of my life.  The memories help me—I still don’t cry, have never cried, because when I think of my Fred, it brings a smile to my face and all I feel is gratitude.

When we met, at our age, we talked about how every day was a blessing, and that if we only had a few years together, it would be okay.  Better a few years than not ever having any days together.  How lucky we were to even find each other.

How joyful and grateful I am for the time we had together.  Thank you, God.

I love you Sweetheart.  I’ll see you soon. 

Fredrick LeRoy Zuehlke

January 15, 1942

January 1, 2012