Friday, February 1
We began February with a rush of activities. This morning we drove to Sulphur Springs to attend a funeral visitation for the mother of a dear church friend. After the visitation, we drove across town to see what was playing at the movie, and saw that it was "The Upside," a movie that we had seen advertised and thought we'd like. We went to visit our friend Marilyn at the nursing home, and then returned to the theater complex to watch the movie with cousins Ladd and Angela and stuff ourselves with popcorn...and were very impressed (with the movie AND the popcorn. This is a movie that we highly recommend for our adult friends!
When we got back home, we buckled down and set to work on our gifts for the children for Sunday's children's sermon. After all, it IS Friday, and we don't like to wait until the last minute 🤣
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Saturday, February 2
This was a sad day for Mineola as we laid to rest a personal friend and a community icon, Wayne Collins. Wayne was a hometown man who actually started the Mineola High School band as a student leader when he was in high school. Wayne was a decorated Navy hero, a community businessman, a dedicated family man, and a faithful member of the trumpet section of the Lake Country Symphonic Band.
Several members of the band played at the service, and I had the honor of sounding Taps for Wayne at the graveside service.
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Sunday, February 3
This morning found us at Yantis First Baptist Church where Jim played with the praise band, and we presented the Children's Sermon, a lesson from John 7 on the 3 R's, or What Will YOU Do About Jesus.
JIM:
Those of you who are old enough go to school study what many of us older folks
call “the 3 R’s”. When we think about
the 3 R’s, we think about Reading, Riting, and ‘Rithmatic. The three R’s we’ll talk about this morning
stand for the choices that each of us make about what to do about Jesus.
Do
you remember that last week we talked about hearing God and listening to
him. Once you hear God calling you, you
must make a decision. Will you refuse to
listen to him…will you listen to him, but choose the way you want to live, or
will you listen to him and decide to follow him in the way He shows you? These choices are the 3 R’s we’ll talk about
this morning.
The
first R is for Reject. When faced with the choice of what to do
about Jesus, many people, just like in Jesus time, choose to reject him. The Bible says that Jesus came to his own
people, but they refused to believe he was the Son of God. Even today, when God calls, many people don’t
believe that Jesus is the Son of God and they choose to reject him.
BARBARA:
The second R is for Receive. When God calls through the Holy Spirit, some
people choose to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible tells us that to those who receive
him, he gives the right to become children of God. That is what will happen when you choose to
receive Jesus in your heart.
The
third R is for Reflect. Once you receive Jesus as your lord and
savior, you will be able to see and experience the glory of God through the
life of Jesus. Then, you have to make
another choice…the choice to keep the good news to yourself, or to reflect it
through your words and actions.
JIM:
Each week during the school year you go to school to study the 3 R’s. But, each and every day for the rest of your
life you have to decide what you are going to do about Jesus and his 3 R’s. Our prayer is that each person in this room
today will make the choice to receive Jesus in their heart and reflect God’s
glory in their lives.
Mrs.
Little, what do we have to remind the children of this morning’s lesson?
BARBARA:
Our special treat this morning is a cluster of 3 Musketeer candy bars to remind
you of your 3 choices in what to do about Jesus…Reject or Receive and Reflect.
JIM:
Heavenly
Father, for those here this morning who have not yet chosen to receive Jesus
and believe in him we pray that they will make that choice today. For those of us who have chosen to receive
him, we ask for the wisdom, strength, and courage to reflect his glory in all
we say and do. We ask this in the name
of Jesus, Amen.
Following church we returned home to take a nap before getting up for a meal and an exciting evening of Super Bowl action (the only NFL game we watched all season).
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Monday, February 4
Happy Birthday to Son-in-Law Andy Dondis!!!!!
Happy Birthday to Son-in-Law Andy Dondis!!!!!
After all the excitement of the big game last night, we elected to sleep in this morning, then got up and just piddled around the house.
By the afternoon we were tired of being inside, so we took advantage of some rare beautiful February weather and drove out to the Mineola Nature Center to see what improvements had been made since our last visit. As with almost everything around this small town, the community leaders have done a bang-up job of developing a nature center overlooking the Sabine River that has something for everyone. We decided the new amphitheater would be a wonderful setting for a Sunday night praise and worship service.
We really are spontaneous people. After leaving the nature center we decided we'd drive to Quitman, stop at Dairy Queen for malts, and pick up a Blizzard to take to our church friend Maylene out at Yantis. We didn't count on it taking us so long to get to Maylene's place way out on Lake Fork, so the Blizzard immediately went into the freezer while we visited and waited until it was good and dark before returning to Mineola...no one ever accused us of having good sense, either.
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Tuesday, February 5
This started out as just another "day in the life." We drove up toward Yantis to visit our friend Eldavada. After the visit we drove up to Sulphur Springs to treat ourselves to Chinese take-out at Panda Express...one of our guilty pleasures.
Back at the house we ate, watched a couple more episodes of NCIS (our latest binge-watching entertainment), and then took a nap. After all, all that running around was really tiring!
This evening we got a call from the kids in Roswell that sister Carol was again being life-flighted to Lubbock and would be facing surgery. It was too late for us to do anything other than pack some things for a few days, and try to get some sleep.
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Wednesday, February 6
Another travel day. We were up early and on the road for the 8-hour drive to Lubbock. When we got there, we checked in at the hotel, went to the hospital to see how things were going and found that the surgery had been temporarily postponed.
Since Carol was resting comfortably, we left for awhile to go to the cafeteria, and have some lunch with a friend Becky, a nurse at University Medical Center.
Serendipity came into full play for us today. As we went through the line in the cafeteria, we heard a voice cry out, "Mrs. Little." We didn't think we knew anyone there other than Becky, but when we turned around to see who called out, we found one of our former students from Liberal, Kansas. Lyndsi and her husband have a food truck franchise in Lubbock and today were selling their Cuban food on the serving line at the hospital cafeteria. We had a short, but great mini-reunion, with promises to come back and do this again sometime.
After an afternoon of eating, visiting, and spending more time with Carol and Teresa, we were more than ready to return to the hotel and get some much-needed sleep.
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Thursday, February 7 - Friday, February 8
Carol's surgery was again postponed on Thursday, so we just hung around the hospital and visited.
Friday was more of the same, except that they finally got the surgery underway, but because of the severity of damage to the arteries in her leg and the damage caused by the medications, they were unable to do all they wanted to do.
All we could do was be there for comfort and support.
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Saturday, February 9
Carol's kids made arrangements to get Carol transported back to Roswell. Carol was stable and there was nothing left for us to do, so we paid a visit early this morning and then were on the road back to Mineola by 10:00 am. We got home at 5:30, beating sundown by a few minutes, unloaded the car and went inside to crash and burn for the night.
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Sunday, February 10
We made it to church this morning, but our participation was limited to attending Sunday school and sitting in the congregation during the morning service. Our emergency travels this week wiped out any possibilities of playing in the praise band or preparing a children's sermon.
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Monday, February 11
Remembering Edith Marie Faulk Little Borsberry (February 11, 1923 - June 5, 2013)
We were going crazy with all the events that have been happening and are getting ready to happen, so we had Alicia, our part-time housekeeper come in this morning and clean while we began packing for our annual trip to San Antonio for Texas Music Educators Association annual convention and our Christmas in February celebration with John, Carol, Randi, Nick, Leah, Ryan, and Kaiden.
This afternoon we drove to the dermatology clinic in Tyler for a follow-up visit about my recent ear surgery. The doctor was generally satisfied with the progress, but scheduled another follow for a later date.
Once we returned home we did some more packing and checked and double-checked to see that we had everything necessary for the San Antonio trip.
Tuesday, February 12
Happy 8th Birthday to Granddaughter Ava Corinne Little!!!!!
After a leisurely start to the morning, we got the car loaded and started out on a new adventure. The drive to San Antonio is always long, but, fortunately for us today, generally uneventful.
When we got to the "big city" we went to the convention center to register and set up the National Band Association booth in the exhibit hall. The backdrop was brand new and took us longer than expected to set up, but after a couple of hours we "got 'er done" and were ready for business.
Later, we went out for supper at a nearby and new (for us) restaurant, Mexican Manhattan, where we dined outside along the famous Riverwalk and enjoyed the Parade of Lanterns before going off to do some sight-seeing and have some silly time.
Wednesday, February 13
Today was opening day for the convention. I took the car and went early to get things underway at the NBA exhibit. Barbara had a little more leisurely morning before riding the river taxi to the convention center.
It was a full day of meet, greet, and promote the National Band Association and I enjoyed meeting new friends and greeting old friends throughout the day. Highlights included spending time with one of my former students from my early years of teaching in North Carolina back in the 70's. Greg Black is the son of Bob Black, with whom I taught at East Gaston High School. Greg has now become a master designer and builder of mouthpieces for brass instruments, and made his first trip to TMEA to show off his wares. What a great time we had sharing memories!
And, there were music teacher friends from Sulphur Springs, 45 minutes away from us at home, who we seem to see only when we go to TMEA in San Antonio...always a pleasure to visit with the Lovelady family.
Tonight we did some more sight-seeing via the river taxi as we rode out to the historic Pearl District.
Thursday, February 14
Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!
While I spent the morning at the exhibit hall, Barbara enjoyed a leisurely time of relaxing and reading...just what she needed after a couple of whirlwind days of supporting and helping me with the exhibit.
We wrapped things up at the exhibit hall a little early this afternoon and spent the rest of the day being tourists along the Riverwalk. What a great way to spend Valentin's Day!!!
Friday, February 15
It got busy in a hurry this morning. We had to hustle around to get breakfast and then pack everything up and take it downstairs to load in the car and get to the convention center for a busy morning of NBA recruiting and then taking time to get out and finally see all the exhibits ourselves (and do a little shopping along the way).
Shortly after noon we started breaking down the exhibit and making arrangements to have it shipped back to Illinois. It took longer than we expected, but it was finally all done and the exhibit materials were ready to be picked up by the convention decorating company.
Then...It was time to do a little sightseeing before getting across town...W-A-Y across town, to meet John, Carol, Randi, and Nick for dinner and begin our final family Christmas for the season.
Saturday, February 16
This was a whirlwind day for the group as we spent most of it the San Antonio Stock Show and Fair...a full day of food, fun, sight-seeing, shopping, more food, concerts, etc., etc. etc.
Joining us today were step-son Kris, Taryn, and Rhett and Bowman.
Sunday, February 17
Remembering Ernie Little (February 17, 1948 - March 17, 2017) on his special day...
This is one of the best photos Barbara ever took, as far as I'm concerned. This was the last time that Ernie was completely lucid before the cancer and morphine destroyed him. On this day we talked and laughed like we had many times over many years, as if this was just a bump in the road and we had more laughs ahead of us. This is how I remember Ernie.
It has been a long and fun week, but today it was time to get the heck out of San Antonio and return home to Mineola. It's fun attending TMEA, fun having Christmas in February with family, and great to return home to our home in Mineola!!!
Monday, February 18
Hibernation Day...And that's all we're going to say about it!!!!! 🤣
Tuesday, February 19
This was a gray, rainy day. So what did we do with it? Drive to Tyler for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Meads for my ear surgery, then drive back home through the rain and settle down to an evening of doing not much of anything, except watching the rain.
Wednesday, February 20
We're slowly, but surely getting back into the routine of life at home. Everything is now washed, dried, and put away from our San Antonio trip, bills are being paid, and tonight I went to praise band rehearsal at Yantis while Barbara stayed home and worked on photos and collages for the journal/blog.
Thursday, February 21
Today we had the opportunity to join fellow East Texas Patriot Guard Riders in honoring the life and service of a Vietnam veteran.
Following the service we drove back to Mineola, did some shopping at Wally World to restock the larder, and then went home to put things away and rest up a bit.
Friday, February 22
Once again it was Friday and we hadn't done anything about reminder gifts for the children's sermon this week, so we put everything else aside and spent the morning focused in the lesson.
This evening we joined Ladd, Angela, and Logan for dinner at Jalapeno Tree and then we went with Ladd and Angela to the Historic Select Theater here in Mineola to see the Lake Country Playhouse cast members in a hilarious presentation of "The Old People Are Revolting." The evening was made even more pleasant when we found our Kansas/Texas friends, Gene and Michelle, in the audience with us.
Saturday, February 23
We got a call yesterday afternoon requesting a bugler for a funeral service in Gilmer today. This morning we visited Leslie at Naturally Nails to get new hairdos, and then drove to Gilmer to stand the flag line with East Texas Patriot Guard Riders before driving to the cemetery for the graveside service, the presentation of the flag to the family, and the sounding of Taps.
After the graveside services we said our goodbyes to our PGR friends and started the drive back to Mineola where we spent the evening preparing for church tomorrow.
Sunday, February 24
Our children's sermon this morning was from John 8:1-11 and was titled, "Don't Throw Stones / Go and Sin No More.
If it wasn't for Jack's birthday, this would have been a very boring day...just another day of hanging around the house and taking care of business.
Tuesday, February 26
Happy 50th Birthday, to son John Henry Colwell!!!!!
While we weren't in San Antonio to celebrate with John on his special day, we did get to celebrate watching Aubrey and Rivers as their parents took a little break this afternoon and evening. These two girls are perfect house guests and s-o-o much fun!
Aubrey and I got some trumpet practice time together to prepare for a special music duet at church in the not-to-distant future. Meanwhile, Rivers showed Mrs. Little all her latest tricks.
Wednesday, February 28
Around the house this was just another day, but this evening was spectacular. The United States Navy Band had a tour concert scheduled in Tyler tonight, so Barbara and I joined Lake Country Symphonic Band director Mike Holbrook and his mother for dinner at Pazzaria on the square in downtown Tyler...
and then made the drive to the University of Texas-Tyler to join a huge throng of folks who came out to hear one of the top military bands the United States has to offer.
The company, food, and concert were superb!
Thursday, February 28
We closed out February by taking care of the business of business around the house. Barbara checked all the finances and paid or set aside money for upcoming bills while I plowed through a mountain of paperwork on the desk to sort out little hills of papers related to income tax. Neither project was fun, but sometimes the have-to's are just have to's, fun or not.
Celebrating the end of a short, but very busy month...
Love and best wishes to all,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
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Tuesday, February 12
Happy 8th Birthday to Granddaughter Ava Corinne Little!!!!!
When we got to the "big city" we went to the convention center to register and set up the National Band Association booth in the exhibit hall. The backdrop was brand new and took us longer than expected to set up, but after a couple of hours we "got 'er done" and were ready for business.
Later, we went out for supper at a nearby and new (for us) restaurant, Mexican Manhattan, where we dined outside along the famous Riverwalk and enjoyed the Parade of Lanterns before going off to do some sight-seeing and have some silly time.
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Wednesday, February 13
Today was opening day for the convention. I took the car and went early to get things underway at the NBA exhibit. Barbara had a little more leisurely morning before riding the river taxi to the convention center.
It was a full day of meet, greet, and promote the National Band Association and I enjoyed meeting new friends and greeting old friends throughout the day. Highlights included spending time with one of my former students from my early years of teaching in North Carolina back in the 70's. Greg Black is the son of Bob Black, with whom I taught at East Gaston High School. Greg has now become a master designer and builder of mouthpieces for brass instruments, and made his first trip to TMEA to show off his wares. What a great time we had sharing memories!
And, there were music teacher friends from Sulphur Springs, 45 minutes away from us at home, who we seem to see only when we go to TMEA in San Antonio...always a pleasure to visit with the Lovelady family.
Tonight we did some more sight-seeing via the river taxi as we rode out to the historic Pearl District.
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Thursday, February 14
Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!
While I spent the morning at the exhibit hall, Barbara enjoyed a leisurely time of relaxing and reading...just what she needed after a couple of whirlwind days of supporting and helping me with the exhibit.
We wrapped things up at the exhibit hall a little early this afternoon and spent the rest of the day being tourists along the Riverwalk. What a great way to spend Valentin's Day!!!
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Friday, February 15
It got busy in a hurry this morning. We had to hustle around to get breakfast and then pack everything up and take it downstairs to load in the car and get to the convention center for a busy morning of NBA recruiting and then taking time to get out and finally see all the exhibits ourselves (and do a little shopping along the way).
Shortly after noon we started breaking down the exhibit and making arrangements to have it shipped back to Illinois. It took longer than we expected, but it was finally all done and the exhibit materials were ready to be picked up by the convention decorating company.
Then...It was time to do a little sightseeing before getting across town...W-A-Y across town, to meet John, Carol, Randi, and Nick for dinner and begin our final family Christmas for the season.
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Saturday, February 16
This was a whirlwind day for the group as we spent most of it the San Antonio Stock Show and Fair...a full day of food, fun, sight-seeing, shopping, more food, concerts, etc., etc. etc.
Joining us today were step-son Kris, Taryn, and Rhett and Bowman.
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Sunday, February 17
Remembering Ernie Little (February 17, 1948 - March 17, 2017) on his special day...
This is one of the best photos Barbara ever took, as far as I'm concerned. This was the last time that Ernie was completely lucid before the cancer and morphine destroyed him. On this day we talked and laughed like we had many times over many years, as if this was just a bump in the road and we had more laughs ahead of us. This is how I remember Ernie.
It has been a long and fun week, but today it was time to get the heck out of San Antonio and return home to Mineola. It's fun attending TMEA, fun having Christmas in February with family, and great to return home to our home in Mineola!!!
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Monday, February 18
Hibernation Day...And that's all we're going to say about it!!!!! 🤣
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Tuesday, February 19
This was a gray, rainy day. So what did we do with it? Drive to Tyler for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Meads for my ear surgery, then drive back home through the rain and settle down to an evening of doing not much of anything, except watching the rain.
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Wednesday, February 20
We're slowly, but surely getting back into the routine of life at home. Everything is now washed, dried, and put away from our San Antonio trip, bills are being paid, and tonight I went to praise band rehearsal at Yantis while Barbara stayed home and worked on photos and collages for the journal/blog.
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Thursday, February 21
Today we had the opportunity to join fellow East Texas Patriot Guard Riders in honoring the life and service of a Vietnam veteran.
Following the service we drove back to Mineola, did some shopping at Wally World to restock the larder, and then went home to put things away and rest up a bit.
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Friday, February 22
Once again it was Friday and we hadn't done anything about reminder gifts for the children's sermon this week, so we put everything else aside and spent the morning focused in the lesson.
This evening we joined Ladd, Angela, and Logan for dinner at Jalapeno Tree and then we went with Ladd and Angela to the Historic Select Theater here in Mineola to see the Lake Country Playhouse cast members in a hilarious presentation of "The Old People Are Revolting." The evening was made even more pleasant when we found our Kansas/Texas friends, Gene and Michelle, in the audience with us.
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Saturday, February 23
We got a call yesterday afternoon requesting a bugler for a funeral service in Gilmer today. This morning we visited Leslie at Naturally Nails to get new hairdos, and then drove to Gilmer to stand the flag line with East Texas Patriot Guard Riders before driving to the cemetery for the graveside service, the presentation of the flag to the family, and the sounding of Taps.
After the graveside services we said our goodbyes to our PGR friends and started the drive back to Mineola where we spent the evening preparing for church tomorrow.
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Sunday, February 24
Our children's sermon this morning was from John 8:1-11 and was titled, "Don't Throw Stones / Go and Sin No More.
JIM: Early in the morning one day Jesus went to
the temple to teach people. As he sat
down to teach, a group of men brought a woman to him and began to tell Jesus about
a crime she had committed. These men
weren’t really interested in what the woman had done. Instead, they were just being tattle-tales
and were trying to trick Jesus into saying something they could use to accuse
him in front of either the religious leaders, or the Roman governor.
BARBARA: Do any of you know what a tattle-tale
is? It’s someone who tells about
something that someone has done, but they tell it only to make themselves look
good and someone else look bad. Have you
ever tattled just to get someone in trouble, or to make yourself look like a better
person?
JIM:
Well, these men who brought the woman to Jesus told him what she had done and
then said, “Our law says that someone who does this should have rocks thrown at
her to hurt her. What do you say,
teacher?”
All
the time the men were talking, Jesus was kneeling on the ground and writing
something in the dirt with his finger.
When he looked up again, he told the men, “Whoever has not sinned may
throw the first rock.” And then he knelt
back down and wrote some more in the dirt.
Now, we don’t know what Jesus wrote, but after a moment, the older men
turned around and left without saying a word, and then the others followed
them, leaving only Jesus and the woman.
“Where
are they”, asked Jesus? “Has no one
offered to throw a stone?”
“No
one, sir,” the woman said.
Then
I don’t condemn you,” Jesus said. “Go
and sin no more.”
BARBARA:
There are really two lessons that we need to learn from this story. The first is that we are not the final judges
of someone, because we have all sinned.
The second is that we are supposed to quit our own sins and live our
lives so that we are examples to others of how God saved us and how he wants us
to live.
To
help remind you of today’s lesson we have a little bag with a rock in it. On the rock is written the words of Jesus, “He
who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”
JIM:
Heavenly
Father, we thank you for sending your son to grant us a new and everlasting
life. Pease grant us the wisdom and
courage to look at our own sins instead of pointing our fingers at others. We have all sinned and fallen short of your
glory, but this morning we ask that you strengthen us to live in a way that
sets an example to others of your forgiving grace. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
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Monday, February 25
Happy 6th Birthday to Grandson Jack David Little!!!!!
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Tuesday, February 26
Happy 50th Birthday, to son John Henry Colwell!!!!!
Trying to explain a mother's heart with words is not an easy task. Robert Browning said it best, in my opinion. "Motherhood: All love begins and ends there." I am so blessed to be able to call you, "Son." Love, Mom
While we weren't in San Antonio to celebrate with John on his special day, we did get to celebrate watching Aubrey and Rivers as their parents took a little break this afternoon and evening. These two girls are perfect house guests and s-o-o much fun!
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Wednesday, February 28
Around the house this was just another day, but this evening was spectacular. The United States Navy Band had a tour concert scheduled in Tyler tonight, so Barbara and I joined Lake Country Symphonic Band director Mike Holbrook and his mother for dinner at Pazzaria on the square in downtown Tyler...
and then made the drive to the University of Texas-Tyler to join a huge throng of folks who came out to hear one of the top military bands the United States has to offer.
The company, food, and concert were superb!
++++++++
Thursday, February 28
We closed out February by taking care of the business of business around the house. Barbara checked all the finances and paid or set aside money for upcoming bills while I plowed through a mountain of paperwork on the desk to sort out little hills of papers related to income tax. Neither project was fun, but sometimes the have-to's are just have to's, fun or not.
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Celebrating the end of a short, but very busy month...
Love and best wishes to all,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
