Today is Wednesday.  I am six days into a seven day break from school...Spring Break!

We didn't go anywhere, which is good, since I woke up with a cold on my very first day off. I've felt pretty awful, but I still cooked on Easter Sunday and Erin , et al came for dinner. It wasn't as elaborate a spread as I have made in the past; no bunny sugar cookies, although I did manage deviled eggs. But it was good.  I didn't eat much...this cold has really taken away my appetite!  Unusual!

I tried a new recipe which I didn't like at all.  I'l post more about that later.

The rest of the time I have just lain around and rested, read and knitted.  I knitted a very cute "socktapus" for Miss G's Easter present.  It turned out really well, even though it is riddled with mistakes (nobody knows but me!).  She loved it and is sleeping with it already.  I'll post a picture soon.

Erin said Genevieve woke up this morning telling knock-knock jokes.  Really?!  She's three years old!  They Face-timed me and she told me a couple.  She does pretty well!  Absolutely the cutest child ever!!

I just updated my reading and stocking list.  I've made progress on the stocking list, but at the rate the Wrenn's are adding people to the family, I'll never catch up!

I've already read eight books this year in six and one-half weeks.  None of them are "War and Peace", but I have enjoyed them all.  Maybe I'll get to "War and Peace" later this year.  :)

Erin and I are working on a 2015 Reading Challenge that she found somewhere...I can't remember where...I'll have to ask her.  This list is a little different.  Instead of listing specific books, it is a list of book types, such as, a book more than 100 years old and a book with a color in the title.

Not all the books I've read have satisfied one of the choices, but it will be fun seeing how many of the fifty we can do.

Moving On

I've come back to this blog after an absence of more than three years.  I'm updating, adding, subtracting and, in effect, making a new blog.  I'm excited!  I have much to share and can't wait to get started.


 

Another Year

Hard as it is to believe, another year is about to end. It has been a particularly arduous and sad one for me.

In the spring, Erin miscarried her first baby. It was early in the pregnancy, but no less sad for being so. At the same time, she was experiencing a very trying time at her job. She had to leave that position and find another job. Before we recovered from all that, Lindsey had a stroke. Again, it could have been much worse, but it was unexpected and hit us like a ton of bricks! Then, less than a month later, Daddy died unexpectedly. It was only five days from the first sign of....anything! He hadn't been sick at all (or, at least, we didn't know about it).

Since then, we have been dividing up Mama's and Daddy's personal things and getting the house ready to rent. Lindsey is still recovering from the stroke. It has been very hard for him. He has never experienced any type of serious illness before this.

Erin loves her new teaching position and she is pregnant again. L and I will be grandparents of a little girl in March.

Here's hoping for a much better year in 2012.

Just Another Friday Night

Home from another busy week at school and I am faced with a dirty house, a messy yard, three tote bags full of work from school and absolutely no motivation.  When will it all change...or rather, when will I make it change?

Erin and Matt have gone to the lake with friends and we are dog-sitting.  Jazzi is a sweet dog and no trouble and she and Maizie get along well.

Still and all, I am really glad it is Friday!

   

My Last Friday Off

Today is the last Friday I will be on summer hours and therefore off work. I don't know what to do with myself. We started summer hours on June 13th and every Friday since then I have either spent in a hospital, doctor's office, at Daddy's house going over his estate with my siblings or with Erin, helping her at her school and just hanging out. One Friday I drove to Martinsville, Virginia to pick Lindsey up from work when he decided he couldn't stay the full day (this was his first day back at work after his stroke).

It has been a terrible summer and I keep waiting for the next thing to go wrong. This summer my car broke down, the element burned out in the oven and my phone died. I still don't have the element replaced and my new phone has yet to arrive. Oh yeah! I currently don't have any hot water and every time it rains, the roof leaks in the upstairs bathroom.

School starts next Friday for the teachers and the following Thursday for the students. I am not ready because I have missed so much work this summer. I have so much left to accomplish!

Daddy

Two weeks ago tonight we were at the hospital with Daddy and we thought he would get well and come home. At least, I did. It wasn't until later in the evening when the doctor told us his kidneys were failing that I knew there was practically no hope. Even then, a little voice in the back of my mind kept saying, "Maybe. Please, Lord."

And everybody, including me, keeps saying this is the way Daddy would have wanted it. He didn't want to linger, didn't want to be a burden. He had a living will. No extraordinary measures. But he was my Daddy and I didn't want to let go.

It doesn't seem possible that two weeks have passed already. I want to make time stand still and tell everybody, "Wait!! This can't be. My Daddy has died and I'm not ready to lose him."

I love you, Daddy.

Daddy

Daddy passed away on Monday morning, July 18, 2011 at 9:29 am.

There is no way to describe the sadness and loss I feel. I love you, Daddy.