Taking some bad with the good

Last night we received word that my cousin, Rochelle, was taken to the hospital in Green Bay and today it was confirmed that she has a brain tumor. Just like that....Very few symptoms to make one think there was a problem at all but the doctors think it may have been developing for a couple months already. All the medical people can say is that there is nothing to be done, it is only a matter of time before it takes her away from us. Please, Lord, be merciful to Rochelle....

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Since Rochelle is my sis-in-law's caregiver, Sharon will face yet another loss so soon after her father's passing. I am going over to her Home tomorrow morning to tell Sharon the news and will stay with her a bit. There is no telling really how Sharon will take this since her short-term memory might not allow it to saturate her brain. She is blind since being diagnosed with her own brain tumor at the age of 16 but has now lived about 40 years beyond the six months she was given by the doctors. Her tumor was quite different than Rochelle's, however, and hopefully Sharon will accept that when I tell her.

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My sister, Jill, needs to use Mom's car this weekend, starting tomorrow afternoon so I will have to get back here in time for her to pack up for a trip to visit her son and his family down state. Linda and I are going to Green Bay after she is done working to look at some artwork and home decor pieces at Taylor Creek. That night we are having dinner at CNC, known for their perch! Yes! Mom and Lynn are invited along, and Alayna, too, if she is not working. Can't wait!

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Mom and I had breakfast at the Covered Wagon this a.m. before going across the road to the furniture store. Mom's idea, not necessarily mine, in case anyone wonders. Not really intending to buy anything, Mom did find a lovely plaid sofa (love seat) and a coordinating chair, perfect for her apartment. Such bright, nice colors which will liven up the joint even more. The light is wonderful in her apartment and fresh furniture will do more! It will take about 4-6 weeks for the pieces to arrive and they will move her existing pieces downstairs to Jill's apartment at no cost. Great! Such a nice lady took care of us, and while I was there, saw my candleabra on display, only mine came from The Honey Pot in Two Rivers. Cool!

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When I came home from Linda's tonight, it was freezing cold again. Much of the snow is melting in the daytime but wow, it was cold when I drove home. Linda took the two of us to Bible study at the leader's home in Shoto, after she made supper for Tommy, her, and me which included brats on the grille. Can it get any better? Yes! Tomorrow night at CNC!

Having a lovely day in Manty!

A whole week down already of my time spent in WI and eventually MN. This morning I was a sleepy head, not touching the floor until nearly 9:30 a.m. for no other reason than I slept very well! And soundly, it seems. We had no place to be so it made no difference at all if I was up and about, or not. When posting this information on Facebook, it elicited responses from those who either rose before or after I did…..let the games begin!
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Linda, Letty and I had lunch at Charcoal Grille today, with Linda and I enjoying an adult beverage with our meals. Mmmm….I had the French dip with onion straws and it was exquisite! Cannot wait to have that again some time, especially the onion straws! Can make a meal of them alone! It was a good time for us to sit and ‘schnudder’ and we spent even more together when Linda came up to Mom’s for a bit before church.

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First German has Lenten services at 4:00 pm and at 7:00 with supper in between and then choir rehearsal---whew! The pastor from Immanuel preached tonight, a good sermon and wonderful hymns, including a new one from the CW Supplement which was unfamiliar to me. From now on, it won’t be. We had bean soup, sandwiches, oodles of desserts and drinks, for $3.00. Can’t beat that, plus Christian fellowship added to the top! Lynn, Alayna, Letty, Mom, and I ate together plus our friend, Cynthia, joined the fun. Love my church families!
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Tomorrow Linda invited me to lunch again plus supper at her house before we head out to Shoto for Bible study. Busy, busy, busy! I opted to forego the lunch outing since I will be gone in the evening, too, but am planning to go over to Linda’s to watch a movie before supper and Bible study. We can pack our days so full when pressed. We got word tonight that my cousin, Rochelle, was taken to a hospital in Green Bay having symptoms of a possible brain tumor. We just spent time with her a week ago at Arno’s funeral and now she is in harm’s way. Let us ask the Lord to watch over her and return Rochelle to good health in short order, His will be done!

Getting the hang of it here.....

It’s Tuesday morning, and about 18 degrees above zero so far. It will ‘warm’ some before Mom and I go to church for the afternoon Bible study, soaring up to the low 30’s. Many here find that quite pleasant but one grumpy girl does not! These days I especially enjoy my gloves when venturing out.
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I do not remember if I wrote about my ‘flu’ bug, my stomach distress or whatever to call it, other than describing it as ‘my lost day’. Let us rejoice it was only one day! Justin very nicely took his grandma to help with the church newsletter and took my place at the table, collating and stacking with the ‘widow ladies’. They were impressed with him, and several told me on Sunday how much he reminded them of me! And they also told HIM that! In between outings, they stopped in to check on me and then went shopping at Wal*Mart, getting, among other things, something for my distress. I must have been in a stupor because I gave Justin my debit card and cut him loose with it! He did well, brought me Pepto and Imodium, and stocked Mom’s larder with soups, cheeses, and other foods for us to rely on after he was gone home. Justin also got himself some fruit, yogurt, and frozen veggies but did not eat them all before leaving. Mom can finish off whatever we do not. That evening, as he was getting stir-crazing just sitting around, Lynn and he went to see/hear Alayna in a concert at her high school, and enjoyed perch sandwiches from Late’s beforehand.
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Friday I was up on two legs again so Justin and I went to Copp’s to get my cookies and see if Susie was working. Neither Susie nor Cindy, the cookie lady was there, but we managed to find some more items for the larder. We had lunch at Dr. Dawg, a new hot dog place on the order of 5 Guys, where I cautiously ate half my Chicago dog and some fresh-cut fries. Justin had an Italian meat hot sub which he really enjoyed. From there we went to Kohl’s, of course, Justin’s hunting ground, where he talked me into buying him new shoes and a partial-placket pullover top, both on sale. When shopping with his grandma Thursday, he found a zip-open expandable duffel bag to use for his extra garments since his suit had traveled here in his father’s garment bag. I had no extra room in my luggage either, hence the $10 bag to tote his clothes and extra pair of shoes. I would NOT want to carry those huge shoes around if I did not have to, not even on my feet! Size 13 in a sneaker is quite the shoe!
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Friday evening the entire family in this area congregated at Time Out for dinner, and even the Jachimstal’s came at the end of the meal to join the fun. Lisa and family came up from Sheboygan and even Kerry from Oshkosh, her first visit since Thanksgiving time. We ended up with 13 people at the tables which was delightful, but sadly, and amazingly, they were out of perch!!! No perch??? On a Friday night??? I was getting teased for not eating earlier but, in the first place, Lisa’s family would not have been there earlier than 6:30 or 7:00 pm. Justin and I are not accustomed to eating so early in the day, normally taking our evening meal closer to 7:00 or after depending on what the night holds. That is no excuse at all for an eating place to be out of perch, however.
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Saturday we enjoyed breakfast at Mom’s with Lynn and Kerry joining the fun before taking Justin to the airport for his trip back to Florida. Lynn asked if she should drive and I readily accepted her offer. She does better driving than being a passenger because of car sickness and I am a great passenger, if I do say so myself. I hated saying “good-bye” to my boy, not seeing him for about three weeks but he promised to keep in touch via text message, which he has. When he landed in JAX he tried sending me a text message reporting thus. I was on the phone with Suzanne, so he called me to report his safe arrival. I took the call, thanked the Lord, and then went back to Suzanne, telling her how he told me I got the first text message and then his new friend, Cortlyn, got the second one. In that order…..It had better stay that way, too! He sent me a late night message on Saturday to report a car had gone over the rail of the Buckmann Bridge, and that the Navy was helping in the rescue. Later, in checking the area news reports on-line, I found out she had been forced off after being hit and run, the runner being followed to her home miles and miles away, where she was later arrested. The woman in the car, forced off the road, died from the accident. How terrible! This will really freak my Justin out, at least for a while….
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Sunday was worship at 8:00 a.m. where we sang a hymn which had been written out on the back page of Arno’s funeral service folder. Before his service I asked Harvey about the hymn stanza and he asked, incredulously, “You don’t know???” I just could not place it, not at first, looking it up in the hymnal. Dennis, the mortician, could not either. Later, in the pews during visitation, after reading through it and trying the melody, came up with it. And then, two days later, we sang it in church! I just found that incredibly interesting that it showed up again, and so soon after the funeral. It was CW 434:3, in case anyone wishes to look it up. “Lord, let your angels come at last…”, it was perfect for a funeral service. Following worship was a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Lutheran Pioneers and it was yum! Lynn had the two boys overnight and they sat like angels in church. They also liked their pancake breakfast, with Gabe eating like a thrasher. She was taking them back home to their parents all sugared up! “Sweet” in every way. The rest of us came back here and chatted before Kerry left for Oshkosh. It was a nice weekend with the various family members going and coming, but not the ‘going’ of my boy!

The Joys of Dial-Up!

I just thought I would write my blog posting while I wait, wait, and wait for the newsletter to download to the e-mail for sending off to the members of my church. It takes a long time with dial-up service and while I rejoice having connectivity of any sort available to me, it does get to be frustrating waiting for things to happen. In fact, I am writing this in a Word program and will copy/paste it to the blog in hopes that it will speed the publishing process somewhat.
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Little has been said about the funeral service for my father-in-law, Arno, which took place on Wednesday but I will make up for that now. My sister, Lynn, managed to get Justin and me picked up right on time from the airport and off we zoomed to the church, making it in plenty of time for the family prayer service before the official visitation began. Justin and his father did a quick change of their wardrobes once we delivered the awaited suit and thus began the evening and half day on Wednesday of funeral events. It was great to see everyone again, although we agreed wishing it was different circumstances. Why do we so often do that? Wait until someone dies before getting together??? A wedding, well, that is a good thing, but a funeral is not always ideal.
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It was also great to see an old friend, Dennis, the owner of the funeral home, again. He always has such nice things to say, always asks about my family, although he sees them more than I do, at F.G. When the visitation was about wrapped up, Justin and I, both a bit weary from our travels and such, were given a ride home by Allie, my niece. It was blowing snow and icy cold outside but Allie had nearly bare arms and drove fearlessly down the country roads. She asked if we minded stopping at McDonald’s as she was picking up food for her parents and brother as well. Sure!!! Justin ran in and got our soda from the mini-mart/McDonald’s as I waited in the car with the heater running. He did not buy any food at all, just the soda. We were delivered to Grandma K’s door where Lynn had already dropped off my suitcase. Justin had his in tow since he needed some items when he did his quick–change at the church. Thanks, Lynn!
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We got settled in at Mom’s, happy to be warm and cozy with family, but Justin did not stay that way long. His cousin, JR, called to see if he wanted to go out for a while yet that night. Sure! Evidently I was more tired than Justin was from our travels…Actually, he relished the opportunity to hang out with his cousin, who would soon be deploying to Germany and then to the war zone, eventually. I was glad to have them take this opportunity. Justin had a key from his grandma to let himself back in again since Mom and I would certainly be asleep by that time! And we were!
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Wednesday we were to be at church by 9:30 for a family devotion before more visitation time and since it was snowing and windy, allowed plenty of time for the drive. Ugh! But we made it safely, and were not the first ones on site. Nancy and her family were already there, and I surprised Tabitha by returning her denim cap, left at my house since summer!
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The service was lovely, of course, a good “Lutheran” funeral, which was appropriate since Arno was a strong, Lutheran man, faithful to his last breath. We sang “Just As I Am” and “Abide with Me”, the closing stanzas of the second one tearing me up, of course. Dennis, the undertaker, did such a good job making sure Arno looked like he did the last time I saw him, perhaps even better, and I thanked him for that.
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Mom and Lynn came out to Newtonburg for the funeral service and stayed to enjoy the fellowship meal afterward. I was sitting with the family but my cousin, Rochelle, who is Sharon’s caregiver, sat with them and others they knew. The committal service was held in the church instead of graveside due to the inclement weather but a few of the hardy and close family went along up to the cemetery, adjacent to the church. Justin was a pall bearer, and quite the handsome one at that! He received many compliments on his new appearance and not a few saw fit to tell him he looks like his mama! Excellent!
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As things wound down after the meal and the clean-up was underway, somehow we managed to herd these cats into a group for a family photo. Heaven only knows when they will all be together again, and only Marian was absent, oh, yes, and Diane. Justin had thought it should be family only but it did not quite work out that way, and Harv had thought I should be in it, but I sat this one out. I get together with folks up there often enough, they won’t forget about me. I won’t allow it! In fact, Barb’s mom, Clara, with whom I sat on Tuesday night for a bit, asked me if I thought the family would ever get together anymore now that Arno was gone. I told her I could not speak for the others but in my case, no matter what they have tried in the past, they just cannot shake me!!! I pray that remains so!

No perch???

Here it is, late Friday night and Manitowoc has rolled up the sidewalks. We did have some excitement, however, causing the youngest among us to scatter into the streets. While Kerry, Alayna, Justin, Mom and I watched "Julie and Julia" rented from the Red Box (Kerry watched with her eyes closed...) I heard the sound of sirens close by, right about the same time I smelled smoke. At first no one else did and then suddenly, the two youngest people ran outside and Kerry not far behind, after we saw the smoke pouring over the parking lot. Mom went to get her shoes on in case we were told to evacuate. I went down the hall, with the phone in my hand, calling Jill on the 2nd floor. She heard the sirens and smelled the smoke, as her scanner reported a structure fire on 12th street. WE are on 12th street!!!

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The young people that ran outside went different directions so they lost sight of Alayna, but Kerry and Justin could see much. It seems there was a fire in an apartment over the typical Manitowoc corner bar, and they even saw a man being taken away in the ambulance. Oh no! Kerry was now wide awake and running up and down the city streets, chasing fire trucks. Once all were back upstairs, they told me I would have hated it out there, due to the cold and blowing snow. It was not a nice night out there at all, and then a fire on top of it all!

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We all had dinner at Time Out, our standard entire family gathering place which accomodates large numbers of people. Mom is not crazy about it because there is noise factor there but it is okay for that period of time. After all, it is a sports' bar. Here is the bad news, I had not had my first taste of perch since getting here and they were out of perch!!! What??? No perch??? How did this happen? Mom and Lynn seemed to believe because we were there 'late' (at 6:30 or so) the perch was sold out. Of course, 6:30 is not late for Justin or me but many of these folks normally eat very early, or much earlier, than do we. I settled for the cod and the waitress assured me she would bring something else if I did not like the cod. It was alright, not wonderful like perch, but alright, and I ate two of the six or seven cubes of cod.

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I should back up a little here----yesterday, Thursday was a lost day for me, the day after the funeral. During the night Wednesday, I woke up to a tugging sensation from inside my tummy, in the vicinty of my belly button. Oh no, again! Before long I was wearing a path in the carpet across the hall to the bathroom, grabbing a Tupperware container to use as an emises basin. Yikes! I was concerned that others who ate the funeral dinner or the soup/sandwich meal at First German were sick, too, but it seems only me who got sick. I cannot recall the last time I was sick in this fashion and it did not please me. The entire day was spent resting and running, so today, extreme caution was taken as far as ingestion was concerned. I had no strength to brush my teeth yesterday, it was all I could do to hold my brush up that long. Today, I accomplished it nicely. Whew! Hopefully that brief illness is behind me!

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I am having troubles with this computer tonight so perhaps I will let it rest and finish the story in the morning, or the afternoon, once I have Justin delivered to the airport. I will torture him by getting him there well before his flight because I am neurotic that way. Someday, he will thank me! Good night, all, and watch for updates!

Signing off for a day or two

Please do not poison yourselves if I do not post for a day or so. In a few minutes Justin will be here and we are leaving for the airport, a bit earlier than he would like. It is in his best interest, however, to do it for me, because I hate to have to rush. I would rather sit in the gate area than try to run down the hall and lose my shoes!

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Thankfully I did sleep last night which is unusual when I have my alarm set. Once I set my phone alarm, it follows that I do not trust it to wake me up. But, I did fall asleep for much of the night, waking at one point to see the same show on TV that was on when I fell asleep. How weird a feeling that was!

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At my mom 's house, I have access to her computer so will be able to post if not daily, then regularly. She has a dial-up service which uses her telephone line so my times on-line will be reserved for after hours or for shorter bursts at a time. I am looking forward to seeing my family again and the other side of the family as well since we were not up for Christmas this last year. At ThanksLiving I only got to see Barb, Mona, and Sharon due to spending part of my time in Holmen with Lori. I will get a healthy dose this visit, since it involves the funeral service for the patriarch of the family, Arno.

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My concern right now is that my suitcase will be too heavy but I worry about that every time. Last trip it was 4 pounds under, much to my relief. You know you are not done paying when you get your tickets---no, one must also pay bag fees! Even though the fuel prices have come back down, the airlines kept the bag fees!

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I will check in probably tomorrow morning so please come back tomorrow but forgive me if I miss a posting or two since I will be having so much fun with my peeps!

A whirlwind of activity

After getting the news of Arno's death yesterday, the activity, from my desk chair, increased exponentially. I am so thankful for the Internet, cell phones, text messaging, and so on used to make the plans. It would be safe to claim at least an hour and a half spent on hold with Travelocity trying to change the tickets I already had in place for my trip to MN and WI next month. At one point, I finally got an answer from Jack in Jakarta or somewhere, and when I tried to take the phone off of speaker to regular use, hit the wrong button and disconnected!!!! Ahhhh! Start the process over again, hearing about six times about the fees charged per change....I then made the decision to simply cancel the previous tickets, for a lesser fee, which I can then use for future travel, which will be June for Alayna's graduation. Perfect! Then, booking a new trip for my travel, since I had done Justin's while on-hold with mine. We are flying up together from Jax, leaving at the same time, so we can ride together to the airport. However, since his flights and mine were scheduled separately, I am arriving about two hours ahead of Justin in MKE. We split up in Atlanta I think. Guess I should check that out, since I looked at a thousand possibilities and got cross-eyed in the process. Justin's flight was arranged first and then I had to try to match them up as best I could.

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Now, Lynn is checking to see if she has a full schedule for work Tuesday so she can come pick us up or if Linda will be our ride! we will have to fly somewhat if the visitation is Tuesday night because Justin is bringing his father's suit with him. Justin was torn about going, not really wanting to go, but I did not pressure him about it one way or the other. I left the decision his. After about an hour he said he will go, saying he wants to see his cousin, JR, before he ships out for Germany. He is looking forward to seeing both his families, since he had not really been up for a visit since Mom's quick turn-around trip for moving over Labor Day. Then he did not see the other side of the family at all, there was simply not time for that. We did get to spend time with Tommy and Linda since we stayed at their house and they made supper for the movers at the end of the day. What great fun that was!

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Once all the arrangements were made, I was less tense and could make some more phone calls and answer e-mails. One of my friends wanted to have a chat but I never got back to her on-line later on, as she was off the computer by the time I was available. My two sisters-in-law called me in answer to my question much earlier regarding JR's plans, although the flights were arranged without knowing if he would be there or not. Lynn and I discussed the plans for getting from MKE, and then I called Mom to tell her know for sure that Justin will be coming with me. She was concerned about getting the daybed (Day Bed...ha!) made up but I told her not to worry about, Justin can make up his own trundle when we go to bed, and I sleep on top of the comforter on the daybed because otherwise it aches my back! I should get a quilted mattress pad for the bed...it's my fault because I bought the cheapest mattress!

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Kathy B., who just HATES it when I go somewhere, now has to face it sooner rather than later, and we regret not saying proper farewells after church. Brian and she were playing in a golf outing so had to dash away, missing the meeting. We chatted on-line later and then she wrote back, realizing that I was going to deliver the castoff clothes, shoes, and other donations to Victory on Thursday! Oh oh! I dashed off an e-mail to the powers that be at Victory asking if there was some way to have a pick-up done on our side of the river. We shall see! As I told Justin, it is a good thing I do not have a job, too, or I would never get everything done! The newsletter is nearly ready to go and I have e-mailed stuff to myself so I can work on things at Mom's. I won't take my laptop along with me, one less thing to carry, since Mom has a computer (no printer) and Lori has a couple laptops I can borrow if needed. What am I saying, if needed???? Of course, it's needed!

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Justin is also concerned about his suit not fitting anymore. I think we got it at Men's Warehouse and they would alter it for him at no cost, but do not think we have time before Tuesday night to do it. He did get some nice outfits for CHRISTmas that will pass for 'dress' clothes. Since he has lost so much weight, of course, the suit will not fit nicely. He does have a corduroy blazer but it is not dressy. What to do, what to do?

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Y'all would have been so proud of me last night. By lamplight, I managed, twice, to thread a needle to sew a button back on my red sweater, plus pull some threads together in the shoulder of one of my other sweaters. I tell you what, these CJ Banks sweaters are just not up to the task for me! Lori has one with her which she tried to return for me, due to premature pilling. The purple one sheds even as it hangs in the closet! I should really put a trash bag over it to prevent it from molting further....The red sweater lost a non-straining collar button, and the threads let lose on the raisin colored one. Whew! They sure got my number when I went sweater shopping in November! Lori is excited to go again when Lynn and I are with her in MN but I might not be so quick this time.

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Wisconsin requires warmer clothes which take up room in my suitcase but I am leaving room for my coat, so I won't have to mess with that on the airplane. Arrangements now are made with Lynn to pick us up in MKE and Linda will handle Mom and Danny that afternoon. Such details! Linda and Lynn each offered to have supper ready for us but there will be no time between getting from MKE and to the visitation. It will be food on the fly, as it were!