....and the Oscar goes to.....

Yes, I am watching the Academy Awards and typing at the same time, with my back to the TV. How does she do it? Right now there are some inane dancers doing routines which do not interest me. It seems the expected winners are doing just that but I still enjoy watching/listening to see the clips and the homage paid to those who died in the past year. Some listed as passing away in 2009 I thought were long gone....who knew? Evidently, the Academy did!

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Mom, Jill, and I had a lovely dinner at Lynn's house this evening, which Justin said he was jealous about. Too bad he had to go back to Florida so soon...Maybe we can do that again when we return in June for Alayna's graduation. Lynn made a roast plus real mashed potatoes, so yummy! Much of the snow is melting as the 'warm' weather continues but I still had to snuggle the car against a snow bank after dropping off my passengers. It is remarkable how much the snow has disappeared in a week's time, though.

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After worship and Bible study this a.m., Mom, Lynn, Alayna, and I went to have breakfast at Perkin's, where I enjoyed my potato pancakes (it was a big potato day for me!). Lynn only had a muffin but it was a large one, and the other two had French toast. Our nearest Perkin's restaurant is in Palm Coast and I rarely get there so this is special to me, ordinary for them. Just like Red Lobster and Olive Garden are ordinary for me, they are special to Lynn etal. I need some Koko's! Linda had company overnight and was making a nice lunch for her guests so I won't see her again until Wednesday possibly, unless I show up at church to bug her!

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Lisa, my niece, sent me a text message today reporting Noah and she are expecting again. Mostly Lisa is expecting and he is along for the ride. She has not been to see the doctor yet but her home tests twice said "YES"....but the tests did not say it was a little girl. As she told me, Gabe is "going for a girl" and so am I! Lisa's two boys are so absolutely adorable, I can't wait to see what a little girl would look like. As Lori said tonight when she called, their baby girl would be as beautiful as Lisa was when she was born. We pray that all goes well with this pregnancy and that Lisa remains healthy throughout!

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Tomorrow I will do my wash, as the machines were tied up this afternoon. I have all day, really, for doing my basket of clothes. For dinner I am meeting my friend, Dolly, at The Green Street Tavern for perch and conversation. We can talk via Internet and Facebook, and sometimes the phone, but face-to-face is needed, too. I love it! Love seeing my Facebook friends in the flesh once in a while, too!

I really miss my Justin!!!!

Just a few minutes ago, at least within the half hour, it occurred to me how much I miss my Justin! Last week Saturday, a week ago, we were saying “good-byes” at the airport and telling each other how much we will miss the other, and now, it came true! Earlier today, Lynn drove Mom, Linda, and me to the Apple Orchard to have a lovely breakfast. I believe we all ordered the apple dumpling with an egg, bacon, and toast. Talk about a big breakfast! I did eat the slice of rye toast, home-baked, with the fried egg on it, plus part of the dumpling. The bacon was a slab-type, too thick for my taste, so I handed that off to Lynn and ate the exterior of the apple dumpling with some of the apple. I was too full to finish the dumpling or drink the glass of cider which came with it!
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While around the table, Mom was telling a story about a friend she had earlier in her marriage, with whom she did all kinds of stuff, and after having my younger sister, they simply stopped being friends. Well, not really, they just stopped talking with each other, as though that portion of their lives came to an end. There is a little story that goes around the Internet every now again, and I have referenced it in this blog at times, about how people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I prefer the lifetime ones, myself. On the way home, I quoted the line from “Julie and Julia” where Julie asked her ‘down to earth’ friend, “What do you think it means when you don’t even like your friends?” Indeed! Those she referred to did not really care about her at all, sort of dissed her and the work she did, while they reveled in their high-powered, self-centered lives. She did not like her ‘friends’ and it became obvious they did not like her much, either!
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After dropping Linda off at Mom’s where her car was parked, we headed out to Festival so Lynn could do her shopping. We managed to find a few items to put in a cart, too, nothing of nutritional value, though. They have a large, sumptuous bakery there and I took advantage of that. As we walked the aisles, greeting the familiar faces of Manitowoc, Justin called me. He quoted another line to me from “Julie and Julia”, this time where Julie mused about the great comfort and pleasure of making a chocolate cream after a horrible day at work where all went wrong. He also told me that when driving my car the other day, he had all he could do to prevent it from turning into the parking lot at Koko’s! I promised him as soon as I get home and situated, I will take him to eat at Koko’s! I really miss my Justin!!! And, so it seems, he misses me, too!
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Yesterday was a wonderful one, even with the visit to see Sharon in the morning. She took the news about Rochelle as best as she could process it. I asked her a couple times if she understood what I told her and what it would mean for her, and Sharon said she did. I hope so. After that visit, Linda picked me up at Mom’s and off we went to Green Bay. Linda needed some home décor pieces and we found just the shop for her—Taylor Creek! We got two pieces of art for the wall, a metal scroll to accompany the art, a lamp for her mom’s pedestal table in the family room, and several Easter or spring themed decorator items for her foyer trees. It is going to look so cute when they are sporting their eggs and other ornaments. My favorite ornament is a lion and lamb glass piece, perfect for celebrating Easter!
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My attention is being stolen by a show on TV, on PBS no less, about Istanbul and other Mediterranean sites where I have visited. One last thing, a sort of sad note: while I was in the store with Linda yesterday, my phone went off, and I chose not to take the call. Here it was Judy R., in Winona, calling to see where we were, as she waiting for us at the restaurant. Oh, my heart sank! She was there a whole week too soon!!!! Eventually she went in and enjoyed a lovely bowl of French onion soup, realizing at last, that she had the wrong date! Well, we will consider it a practice run for next Friday, when Lynn and I join Lori on her side of the state. Ooops!

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!