The excitement is building!!

More since Lori let me know they are coming sooner than originally planned, due to the bad weather heading their way. Snow, sleet, and other wretched winter weather might hamper all the CHRISTmas plans being made in my hometown and in Sheboygan, where Lisa lives. While Lisa is glad for me, she is sad because the Schippers were coming to her house before heading south to mine, and now, they will not see each other until after Schippers head back up. Lisa is thinking only the four of them will enjoy their CHRISTmas feast if the weather gets as bad as predicted. Certainly I do not want Mom and Lynn, Jill and Danny, and Alayna on the roads if they are treacherous....I do 'express concern' for all their traveling safety!

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When I let Justin know about the plans change, he sent me a text message basically saying how fun it will be to have to put tables together for the feast. I had decided to have a feast on CHRISTmas Day anyway, even if Kerry was not coming and had made arrangements for others to join us around the table. My greatest pleasure is having my table full and now it might be two tables full! The feast from Sunday will be combined with Thursday's and I will make as much of the foods ahead of time as possible. Oooh, I am so 'cited about all this!

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Since we were not expecting people now until the 26th, some of the tasks will not be taken care of, which is really fine. The endless dust continues to plague me and my home but it is the worst in the early morning, which Lori won't see! There is no need for getting up except on church days so why not? She is on vacation! David might be up earlier but not notice the dust....There still is time to take care of that if I get at it. Justin was coming over last night but once again had to reschedule, at least not because of doing something with his father this time. He had fallen when bowling on Friday night, throwing his first ball, and banged up his knee. I just thought of this----like father, like son! His father was always running into something or banging something up when he was younger, and now Justin is always hurting himself one way or another! I will have to tell Lori about this revelation! After working all day on Monday, Justin claimed his knee was too sore to bend down into the cabinets (his project for that night) and it was no biggy for me. It still is not but just a task I had wanted taken care of at some point, and that point is getting closer!

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This morning I was true to my commitment of not turning on the computer until certain items were taken care of, and I did it. I did have to sneak one peek at the laptop when looking up the zip code for Two Rivers. But, that is all, I swear! The last, I think, of the CHRISTmas cards went out when I went downstairs to get the mail from yesterday. I had a parcel from Marian and Biff plus a couple more cards. Good thing I had some leftover! At one point I was going to make a phone call and when I picked up the phone, saw it was only 7:45 a.m., and I have no idea what time it was when I got up. Fox and Friends was on already so that is my gauge for when I got up and took my shower. I have no clocks in my room except the cell phone and the computer, and, with the computers off, I had no time!

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After the cards were done, I got busy with the present wrapping. At first I was going to buy paper and boxes but then remembered seeing my gift wrap Rubbermaid tower in the back room where the ornaments are kept. There I found tons of paper and enough boxes to even have leftovers. Lots of kids' paper, likely from Timmy yet. As I said, normally my presents are wrapped in Manty so it has been a long time since I tapped into that stockpile. It was trip down memory lane. I found a gift tag where Roger had written "MAMA" on the back, evidently for Timmy to copy. Oops, I was doing good up until this point....I can be sad if I want to...for a little while, anyway.

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By the way, I finally read through the anthem Rachel had sent home with me a couple weeks ago. It is a hymn intended to be sung when a child dies, a choral arrangement, using a more "carol" melody. I do not read music so cannot even hum it, but there is a paragraph on the sheet music explaining the reason and such for this piece. Rachel was right, better to be read in the privacy of my own home.

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Yesterday I went on several errands, starting with Winn-Dixie for a few more grocery items needed for the dinner. When I checked a recipe, it seems I need whole kernal corn besides the creamed corn and some corn bread. At WD, I got their last mini-tree to use at the cemetery, since neither Justin nor I could find our usual tree. I am wondering if it blew away last year when I was gone and I just simply do not remember. This mini tree will do and I will simply need to get a new one after the holidays and redecorate it. I stopped next at the post office to mail some shut-in CHRISTmas booklets for the folks in Keystone Heights.

Next stop was the hospital to visit Gordy, where I found a handy parking place. As I was getting out of the car, a golf cart pulled up behind my car and this kindly older gentleman offered me a ride to the door. How nice is that? When I got inside, the lady at the information desk told me he had left the hospital but had no further info for me. Back to the car, on foot, where I sent a message to Terri, his daughter, to see where he was. It seems he was back at the nursing home so I will try again another time to catch him. His family is in now town so he will need our visits once they have left.

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From there I headed toward Blanding Blvd. where the long long ride began. The traffic was bumper to bumper all the way from Kingsley Avenue to the freeway for some reason, perhaps Mall shoppers? But really, this was way too far from the Mall to be a problem, you think? I had to stop for gas part way down the road and feared being able to get back into line. No worries, nice people let me back in so I could continue. Thirty minutes later I was pulling into the cemetery. Justin was on the phone with me part of the time and he was hoping I would get to the cemetery before dusk, but I did. It happened to be quitting time for my "boyfriends" so I got to wave or chat with some of them on their way out. The guy in charge of the cemetery portion of the place, Mike, stopped to talk and said he hardly gets to see me anymore. I explained I no longer come every day, which is good, and he said, "Well, I know, but when you do come, the guys will say, "Saw Ms. Day today"..." I asked if they were keeping an eye on me, jokingly, and Mike said, "They think the world of you, Ms. Day, and so do I!" Wow! Mike was one of the two guys who had to jump into the hole to lower Timmy's casket into the vault, so it seems he has taken a special interest. I think the world of them, too, and it seems odd to not see them daily any longer. A good odd!