April 19,2015

Yesterday, Alair and Claire competed in a spelling bee. There are 4 groups of 2 grades each. Blair got 9th place in her group and Claire got 2nd place in her group. I was so relieved that Alair got a ribbon. I wasn't sure if she would.

Today, after church and Bible Study/Sunday school, we had Sunday Dinner with Kratzers, Wetzelnesses and Erik and Ashley. Again, Andy and Christine had an excuse not to come....... We had a baked potato bar with bacon, mushrooms, broccoli, sour cream, butter, shredded cheese and hamburger gravy. Also tossed salad and cantaloupe. Double Chocolate Banana Bread and Finnish Orange Cake with whipped cream for dessert.  It was kind of cold and crappy out today, so the kids had to stay in and they got pretty restless. Carly and Corine stayed for supper. Emily and Andy had a meeting at church.

This week I have to get Carsen's prom dress bustled and lamb and wolf costumes made for Friday night's school play. I also need to swim at least 4 times...hopefully  5.

Tuesday is our 37th wedding anniversary. I really don't feel old enough to be married that long. No special plans. We will see if the kids remember. All but one remembered my birthday on the 10th. He got reminded a few days later.

Kids

  It really made me think. This last weekend. Two sons-in-law, a daughter in law and a son made some poor decisions. I gave my two cents worth the next day...actually lit into my son.  Then I thought back to my younger years. I made a lot of the same bad decisions and more. People thought I was  'good girl'. I just never got caught. So many terrible things could have happened. I know God must have been watching out for me and that I had much more to do. I think about my life now. With 6 kids and 12 grandkids. Being able to adopt our 6th child when I was 47.  I am so thankful for what my life has become. I wonder what is still to come.

Spring Cleaning

 Last week I got the urge to clean. It really doesn't happen often. I don't just mean basic cleaning...I mean going down into the seedy underbelly of our house. Where water had backed up from the floor drain, flooding the floor and ruining things that had been stored in cardboard boxes. This flooding happened several years ago. At the time, we just threw out some things we could see were totally ruined and decided to deal with the rest when we had time. Last week I had time. There were about 30 tubs of stuff collected over almost 38 years of marriage, 6 kids and assorted parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I decided to do a quick keep, throw with everything first and then sort everything out later. Friday, Kim started hauling boxes of garbage out. Saturday, he loaded the pick-up twice and hauled it in. He has one more load to take tomorrow. Now I will sort what is left into categories. There are thousands of pictures to sort out, but that will happen another time with the kids helping. Each kid will get a bin with their stuff in. Special school papers and mementoes of their younger days. There will also be more throwing out of things at this time. I still need to scrub the floor and move around some boxes yet. I would do a lot this week, but I found out on Friday that Erik wants to have is birthday party here and Allison and Chris and family are coming down. I can't leave stuff out as Mila and Dannie probably won't leave it alone. I will start on a clutch for Cora for her wedding and look at what I plan on making Alair for Easter this week. I still have teddy bears to finish too. I feel really good about getting this much done and hopefully getting more done soon.

Winter Roads

  Yesterday started out not so good. It was snowing. I know it is winter in Mn, but it seems every time I have to go somewhere, it is snowing buckets. Then, by the time the bus brings Alair home, the roads are cleared and all is fine. It has happened three times to me. I got ready and went to Nell's for Bible Study. The roads weren't great, but she lives in town, so I assumed the plows would be out on the main roads sooner than smaller township roads. I parked on the street as I didn't want to get parked in. I was to go to North Morristown for lunch duty and had to leave early. As I was walking up to the house I slid on ice. Didn't fall.  I asked if someone would walk me down to the car when I had to leave. Annette walked me down to my car and we both slid. Didn't fall that time either. Started out for North Morristown and just turned onto the Camp Omega Road when I hit ice. Yup, I did everything I shouldn't. I didn't drive into it and over compensated. I ended up in the ditch. Kim was in Iowa. I called Aubrey. I told her where I was, and since Carsen had to be pulled out last week, she called the tow truck and came to where I was to help if she could. Adrenalin was rushing and I was an emotional mess. I called the school to say I wasn't going to make it. I got pulled out and Aubrey followed me home. I was still shaking.  Kim got home. Roads were much better. Alair got home. She got her homework done and so we were able to go to supper at church and Vespers. The day definitely ended on a high note.

February 22

  Here I am, sitting in my chair on Sunday morning. We should have attended church at 7:45 and Bible Study at 9:00. Alair should have attended Sunday School after church.  The morning started out fine. We all woke up at 6:00 and ate and started getting ready. Alair started complaining she had a stomach ache and felt like throwing up. She had a low fever. We decided to stay home. Good thing we did. At the time we would be in the car on the way to church, Alair had diarrhea.  As it was, she didn't make it to the bathroom.  A while later, she was vomiting with diarrhea. We are now watching movies and waiting to see how things go.  She missed two days of school last week with nasty cold symptoms and a fever.
  Yesterday, we went to Stillwater to do some shopping. Aubrey, Troy, Claire, Natalie, Carsen, Carly, Corine and Erik went along. We ate at Leo's Grill and Malt Shop. Got olive oil, tea, bottle openers, a new smoker for spring and a gift for Pastor and Mrs. Palm. Then we went back to the Twin Cities, to Ingebritsen's. Kim got some fish and Aubrey and I got some adorable little prints of trolls and little children.  After that, we stopped at HyVee and picked up pizza for supper.  Emily and Andy came to pick up their girls after going to a marriage retreat sponsored by their church. Carly and Corine stayed with us since Thursday. Friday, Claire and Natalie had a sleep over here too. It was a very busy time. We didn't plan on doing anything today except church, but then we didn't even get to do that. I hope Alair feels better soon.

National Lutheran Schools Week

  This week is National Lutheran Schools Week. The school where Alair goes has special activities all week. Today the kids baked chocolate chip cookies and invited former students and teachers to come and talk about the days they attended there. The school is close to 100 year old. It was very interesting to hear the older people talk. Some even brought pictures and report cards. You could hear the pride in their voices as they told stories of the strict teachers and how the students actually became one big family as the older students helped the younger ones and they all played at recess together. I am so glad that Alair gets to experience this too. The sad thing is, there are only 10 students attending out there in grades kindergarten thru fifth. I so wish the school would go until 8th grade. This June, two students will be leaving. If more families don't register, I'm afraid it can't stay open. After next year, Alair will be finished and we have to find another school. Also, the parents are finished as volunteers. It's hard to find volunteers these days. I have talked until I am blue in the face about the benefits of a parochial education and it really does no good. The parents that send their kids to the public school complain about many things wrong with their school system, but they don't want to try the alternative. We pray and pray.  We can't give up on the kids.

House of Living Stones

I have been kind of ADHD for quite a while. I can't seem to stay at one thing for very long. Especially reading. And I love to read. My mind goes from one thing to another. I preordered House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann.  I started reading it in November.  I'm almost finished with it. 2 chapters left. It os a very light story about an LCMS congregation in a small town. Very light reading. I can't believe how long it took me. I was happily surprised when about a week before the book arrived, I got a hand written card from the author thanking me for my purchase and hoping I like the book. I do.
 More on the wandering mind.....I start in the kitchen doing dishes, then unload the dryer. I carry the unfolded laundry into the living room and drop it in the basket. I see some of my 33 year old daughter's things sitting on a table that she left here. I take it in the kitchen and do some more dishes. I then check face book and go into the bathroom and clean out the sink. I will iron 2 shirts and then decide I better start in my latest sewing project. Load the washer and dryer, oh yeah...finally finish dishes. Phone rings and talk to whomever....where was I? Right...vacuuming the living room. This is by 10:00 am. I am not kidding. Probably why I can't spend much time reading.

Swimming

The pool is warm...82 degrees. The building is not...60 degrees. So far I went out yesterday and today. I actually feel better mentally. I really enjoy swimming. It clears my head and I get to plan out my day. I am working up to an hour again. It shouldn't take too long. Today was 45 minutes. I hope I can keep with it. Not because I quit swimming, but because of the cost to keep it heated.

Age

I really must be getting old. When the older kids were in school, it really wasn't a big deal in the winter to go to activities in the evening. We were always at basketball, gymnastics, dance line, play practice and band and choir concerts. I just hate going out now.  I know that's why we won't have an exchange student for a few years. I always encourage them to be active in school here so they meet lots of kids. That means going out late at night to get them from away games and competitions. As we have a 9 year old, we only go to home games. It gets too late. Today it was 5 degrees when I came home from doing lunch duty at Alair's school. Tomorrow it will be -40 wind chill. School will probably be late. I have Bible study at 9:30 in the morning. Probably not going.