Saturday, November 15, 2008

Better!

I am so happy to be able to say I am feeling somewhat better now! Our cruise is less than a week away and I have finally started to think about what I am packing. JC Penney's was having a great clearance sale and I picked up a couple of nice blouses for the cruise. The tops I have been taking are starting to look a little pilly (is that even a word?) and worn. I usually take a pair of black slacks and switch out tops for a different look. And I will take a nice dress for the formal night. During the day I stay with athletic style cropped pants and tops. They are easy to wear, look okay and are very comfy.

I am still working on my bedroom. Today I went through my unmentionables drawers (they are small drawers) and it is amazing how many pairs of socks I have collected over the years. There are at least thirty pairs too many and I am sending them off to St. Vincent's; along with a bunch of other things I don't need. Why do we hang on to things that we don't need or even want? If you look in the dictionary under clutter you will find a photo of me...I swear! It has been my downfall forever. In fact, it is the second most often thing DH and argue about. I don't think I was born with the gene that enables domestic ability. Is there a pill for that?

Last night I had the best night's sleep of the last week. I was in bed by 10:30 and asleep by 11:00. It was 9:00 before I even woke up this morning. That was probably the reason I felt perkier today. I met my mom and sister in Madison for lunch before I went shopping. Over all a very nice day. Sis is spending the night here tonight and we watched an interesting movie. It was "Ladies in Lavender" with Dame Judith Dench and Maggie Smith. They played elderly sisters who live together. One of them was married but is now a widow and the other never had a relationship of any kind. They find a young man washed up on the beach by their house and nurse him back to health. He turns out to be an extraordinarily talented violin player who fell off a ship and managed to swim to shore. The spinster sister falls in love with him, (I know, weird), but he meets a younger woman who gets him in touch with her brother, a famous conductor and violinist himself. He goes off with her and breaks the heart of the sister. Interesting, no?

Is this upbeat enough? I sure hope so, because I am trying really, really hard. My only complaint, (hey, I am not being down, just complaining a little), is my arthritis has kicked in hard during this colder weather. Did I mention that fall seems to be over? Today was cold and WINDY! A few areas around here even got a few flakes of snow. But, hey, the Badgers won Paul Bunyon's Axe again! That was a wild game! Okay, enough for now!

TTFN
Ginny

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

So Sad

I don't think I can keep doing this. We have lost two people close to us in about a month and it is just overwhelming. The service for DH's cousin today was a true tribute to his life and was as beautiful as a funeral can be. I will miss Joe dearly but I know when I get to heaven he will be there to greet me with his cheery "Well, hello there, Ginny!". I worry about his boys though. They are going to have a rough time ahead of them. Okay, I can't write any more tonight. Next post will be upbeat, I promise.

TTFN
Ginny

Saturday, November 8, 2008

This Can't Be Happening!

I am in shock tonight. My DH's 54yo cousin passed away last night from a massive heart attack. I just saw him on Thursday and thought he looked better than he had in years. DH and I were very close to Joe; he lived with us for a while in the early years of our marriage and our children called him uncle. He really was more like a brother than a cousin to DH. They say bad things happen in threes; I used to say it was just coincidence, but it really does seem to happen that way. First we lost my SIL's husband, then DH's SIL lost her BIL. And now Joe. This has all happened in about a month's time. It is too much. Please keep our family in your prayers, won't you? We need all we can get.

Ginny

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Crisis

This has been a rough week for several people in my family. I am not going to go into details or name names, but I have to say that a couple of us have finally reached out for the help that has been needed for a while. It never ceases to amaze me at the lengths we will go to to keep people from knowing that we are struggling; including ourselves. Depression tends to run in our family. I suffer from it myself but for the most part it is controlled by medication. Since I retired, I have had problems with motivating myself to get going every day. I am now going to get help with that. I saw someone yesterday to get started and I am feeling like things will get better soon.

DD and the GBs are back in Chicago for a few days. SIL has some time off so they are doing family things. My mom is staying with my sister for a few days so DH and I have the house to ourselves. It has been quite a while and I am ready to enjoy it.

Only two weeks until us girls leave on our cruise. It will be so nice to get away from it all for a few days. Sun and fun, woohoo!

TTFN
Ginny

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Photos as promised!

Hope you like these photos of my darling GB's. I do love them so much!

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Time Flies!

I cannot believe that it is Sunday already! Friday I drove down to DS's house for Trick or Treat night. What fun! It was so neat to see all four of my GB's in their costumes. I will try to put together another photobook and post it here so you can see how adorable they all looked. Caylie, the eldest was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Her younger sister, Emma, was Princess Leiea (sp?) from Star Wars. Ashley, the two year old just had to be a "cow, Gamma" and her little brother was a dinosaur. Of course, my job was to hand out treats to the other children while DS, DIL, and DD took them around to get their treats. Would you believe I only had 6 children!?! They were gone over an hour but it was pretty early. Most people probably weren't home from work and many don't let their children go without them. I say hurrah! Good parents one and all!

Things have certainly been chaotic again since the little ones came back on Saturday. They are really starting to show the stress of being "homeless" and moving around from our house to their uncles'. I know they miss their daddy and the routine that my DD had going before the move started. We are all more than a little crabby sometimes; young and old!

DS the younger and his wife came out today for a short visit and a great afternoon meal. My mom made her brisket with coleslaw, potato salad and beans. Yummy! When she decided to make it last month for a potluck we had to go online to order her required marinade, Claude's Brisket Marinade. I don't know if any of you have ever had it, but it renders brisket utterly delectable. You marinade the meat several hours or overnite and then cook it long and slow. The result is tender meat that is so moist and flavorful...yum!!! Sorry, I don't get it very often and it had been a couple of years this time since I had it.

DS hooked up my new dvd/vhs player for us. We haven't had a working dvd player for months and it is really frustrating when all my newer movies are in that format. In fact you really can't even buy vhs movies around here any more. I haven't watched one yet, but it is nice to know that I can if I want to. the player also replaces our very old vhs player which was on it's last leg. I like it because it takes up less space and we no longer have to juggle electronic devices on our rather small cabinet. My son is so kind to help with all the "techincal" stuff around here. Give my husband an engine and he can make it go. But put something like a computer in front of him and...! LOL. Thanks, Mikey!

I hate the time change, even if this was the "fall back" part. Everyone is feeling just a little discombobulated. Don't you love that word? It is as much fun to write as it is to say.

Last night I discovered a website for downloading embroidery patterns for my new machine. I was like a child in a candy store. To buy a card of designs for the machine can cost up to a hundred dollars for a dozen or so designs. I paid $5 for a 3 week membership to this site and downloaded a ton of designs. I can't wait to use them and make something for the little ones. Or the big ones, there were designs for just about everything. I am going back again to look for more things before my time is up. I also stopped a shop yesterday on my way home from Illinois and found a couple of cards for my machine that were on clearance. Fun!

Ah, well. Time to settle down for the night.

TTFN
Ginny