Sunday, January 24 – Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, January 24
Happy 81st Birthday to Jesse Fairfax in Woodbridge, Georgia!!!
It would be safe to say that this was pretty much “church day” for us.
We woke fairly early, got Mother’s coffee to her, and then started getting ready for Sunday school and church out at Yantis. After fixing Mother’s breakfast (Barbara said she’d serve breakfast in bed as a Sunday treat), we made the 20-mile drive from Mother’s house to Yantis, arriving just in time to begin our Sunday school class.
As I sang in the choir during the morning service, Barbara began her apprenticeship as the sound and media technician, learning the ropes from Mike Fuller who, we hope, will be able to turn that job over to her and return to singing tenor in the choir.
We had a good church service and then returned to Mineola, where our lunch that Barbara had put in the oven before we left this morning, was waiting for us. T.J. joined us for our noon meal and then we all retired to our separate rooms (T.J. to her house) for a much needed nap.
We must have really needed that nap, because it was 4:30 when we woke up. We scrambled to get ready to return to Yantis and made it just in time for me to get to choir practice and Barbara to play with the control board and learn to adjust the sound system. Barbara: Mike said that next Sunday he will sit with me and I can do the equipment! Think I’ll need some extra prayers even though it’s actually doing what I taught for years at West in media; but to know I’m going to have people actively watching and waiting is a tad scary!
Jim: Instead of a preaching service tonight, the church entered its quarterly business meeting. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the meeting was well run, the reports were concise and to the point, and the questions and comments were very much to the point. I guess we were expecting something along the lines of a school board meeting.
We stopped by Holiday Village and Big V on the way home so we could pick up a few items we decided we were going to need. It is going to take some adjustment to get used to our new life, but we’ll just have to handle it step-by-step and one day at a time.
We visited with Mother for a while after we got to the house and then headed for bed, leaving Mother to continue reading her latest book.
Monday, January 25
Today was full of activities. After having breakfast, I took Mother to Quitman for an appointment with her attorney to finalize her Will and handle some other legal paperwork. We got there a little early, so Mother asked me to drive around town a while and she told me what buildings used to be in certain places. She went a couple of years to elementary school in Quitman and did her last two years of high school there, so she has some fond memories of the community.
When we returned to Mineola, we found Barbara and T.J. putting the final touches on our lunch, a pork chop-based casserole cooked in the crock pot. After only a couple of bites, we voted unanimously that this recipe was a definite keeper. We did save room for some Apple Betty, but were stuffed by the time we got up from the table.
While Barbara finished with the kitchen work, I went to T.J.’s house to help her with a couple of little chores; then I returned to the house and determined that it was nap time.
When we got up from our naps, we started doing some cleaning around the house, tackling the dusting and floor cleaning. We also rearranged the bedroom to suit our tastes and rearranged the living room to make it easier for Mother to get to her chair a little easier.
We took it easy on the evening meal, with chicken sandwiches and chips. Mother came in to share the meal and see how we had rearranged the living room.
When supper was over, I made sure the dogs got their evening treats (it’s a very stylized procedure) and then we left Mother to read and drop off to sleep while we tackled email and some business items.
Tuesday, January 26
Happy Birthday to son-in-law Jim Farnham in Olathe, Kansas!!!
We both woke up early this morning, an hour or so before the alarm went off, and started our day the usual way…checking email and reading online news articles.
When it was about time for Mother to wake up, we started on our “lesson plan” for the day, which was to give the kitchen and dining room of Mother’s house a good scrubbing and shining from top to bottom; that little job included dusting and polishing the window shutters, furniture, cabinets, and even the ceiling fan blades.
After scrubbing the countertops and appliances, we swept and mopped the laminate floors (the downside now is that Spike and Bonita slide around the corner instead of running around it).
When everything was clean and shiny, I grabbed Spike and took him to the vet for a laser treatment on his hindquarters. Spike has been having some problems with walking lately and his hind legs seemed to be particularly still this morning, probably from the extreme cold that swept over the region last night.
When I got Spike back home, Barbara and I left to check the mail and go to the body shop to get an estimate on repairs to the Vibe. The “bump” it took last week resulted in more damage than first appeared. Now we have to wait for the insurance company to approve the estimate before we take whatever the next steps are.
We came back to the house and cooked stacked enchiladas for lunch. We haven’t had them for quite a while and today just seemed to be the right day for them. Again, it was so much fun to watch Mother eat and win the battle as she cleaned her plate. But, we were all ready for naptime after the dishes were done!
One reason for all the housecleaning was that we invited Mother’s next door neighbor, Addie, to come over this afternoon for coffee and goodies and a visit with Mother. T.J. brought over a pound cake this morning and Barbara put together a plate of dried fruit and nuts for the occasion. While Addie (who is just a year or so younger than Mother) and Mother were visiting, T.J. and her friend Cherry arrived and joined in the conversation. Our camera, which has been dormant for much of the month, came in very handy this afternoon as we had the opportunity to take pictures of the get-together.
Wednesday, January 27
Jim: This was certainly a different day for us. After getting up early, feeding Mother a big breakfast, and getting ourselves dressed, we headed up the road so I could spend a few hours working on our lot at the lake while Barbara went to her women’s Bible study at Yantis First Baptist and then to Imogene Glenn Elementary School, also in Yantis, to work on reading with a couple of first graders.
For my part, the entry is fairly simple…I cut out a different kind of vine from trees on the north side of the gully. I don’t know what kind of vine it is, but it runs all over the ground and swallows the trees with long tendrils of green leaves. The vine wraps around the trees so tightly that they actually cut into the bark. The weight of the leaves keeps the trees from growing, and eventually chokes them out altogether.
I don’t know how long this patch of ground has been covered with whatever vine this is, but the damage to some of the more mature trees is great. I’m hoping that cutting, pulling, mowing, and a healthy (or should that be “unhealthy” dose of Round-up will solve the problem within a year or so.
Barbara: Today we began our study on the book of Ephesians with Lisa as the leader. Lisa is also the leader of the Bridge Club I attend every other Tuesday night and she is awesome, especially for one so young. Though I did find out today that though I thought she was maybe 35-40, she’s really 49! Wow! Is she well preserved! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoy learning from her.
Since today was my day to furnish snack at our break, I also spent time learning the layout of the church kitchen with Mary as my guide. I had fixed tortilla roll-ups and Mary an apple raisin pudding. Both were a hit with the ladies.
We start the Bible study at 9:30 and it was 11:30 when we finished up, which was just perfect since Marla’s first grade class would be returning from lunch at that time. After signing in at the office, I had a sense of, “Wow! I remember why I quit! Don’t do this and that signs everywhere, locked doors, fancy decorations on every door.” However, instead of running away, I proceeded to find my way from the office to Marla’s classroom.
Marla has received two students in the last two weeks who cannot read at all. Both are discipline problems (no wonder…when children can’t succeed, they find other ways to be recognized.) Anyway, I was introduced to Montana and Dallas (how’s that for a geography lesson?).
Marla found a quiet room for us to retire to and then I was filled with the greatest sense of, “Oh, yes! This is why I taught and loved every minute of it!” I could bore you with the cute things that both boys individually and collectively did, but I loved every moment and I think they did to. I told them that my life was kind of messed up right now so I didn’t know when I’d get to come back; but I would be back!
When I returned the boys to class, Marla had some supplies ready for me as I’m also going to act as a volunteer aide for the first grade teachers. I left with the promise that I would be back!
Jim: We returned to the house around 1:45 to find Mother sitting comfortably and reading. We had a late lunch and a short nap and then drove over to T.J.’s house to visit for a few minutes to check on the time that we’re to be at her house tomorrow for lunch. It was kind of funny though, because as we walked in, TJ was on the phone and she said, “Oh, here he is, Sister.” Seems as though TJ had called the house, Edith was calling for Jim (even though we had told her before she fell asleep that we were leaving to get her medicine and do some errands.) Anyway, after leaving TJ’s we continued on our errands run.
Back at the house, we had a light supper and then all settled in for a quiet evening.
Thursday, January 28
This was just another day of working on several projects for the birthday party we are going to throw for Mother. TJ had invited us over for lunch so we packed Edith in the car and enjoyed some time out of the house as well as a great meal of chicken fajita soup…a new recipe TJ had found in the Tyler paper. It is definitely a keeper!
Barbara’s sister Carol sent us some photos of two of her grandchildren, Missy’s children, who live in Minnesota. She had been trying to send them for several days and though they went through for Nancy, Barbara’s other sister; we hadn’t been able to open them. Anyway, we enjoyed seeing Cameron and Ali and how they have grown! Time does march on, that’s for sure!
Friday, January 29
Happy 3rd Birthday to great-grandson, Rhett, in San Antonio
With a cold, rainy day settling in all around us, we decided to just stay inside and take care of business today. Mother came in to join us for breakfast and we visited for a while before she returned to her room and we cleaned up the kitchen before I took Spike, Mother’s Boston Terrier, to the vet for a laser treatment on his back and hindquarters.
It didn’t take long before Spike and I returned to the warmth of the house and Barbara and I started a new project.
When Barbara came back from tutoring a couple of 1st grade boys on Wednesday, she brought a load of construction paper and other items for making 30 sets of worksheets for a hands on exercise. We went into “workroom mode” and I began cutting construction paper into four different sizes of rectangles while Barbara grabbed her trusty scissors and began cutting out circles of white paper. We really made a mess of the dining room table and had to clear it off so we could have lunch with Mother.
We made a quick trip to Our Little Lot late this afternoon to pick up some things we are going to need in the house. While we have the laptops with us, we had left the printer/copier, our backup drive, the DVD maker, and various other bits of equipment behind and decided we might as well have everything together here at the house.
On the way out of the park, we stopped to see Gene and Michelle, the retired administrators from Kansas that we met a short while ago. They are babysitting their 6-month-old granddaughter for a week or so. While we were there, we confirmed the arrangements we had previously made to meet them at the clubhouse for lunch after church on Sunday.
Tonight was pretty slow…set up the computer equipment, had a light supper, and then watched some TV before heading for bed.
Saturday, January 30
It wasn’t rainy today, but it sure was cold! With the temperature hovering between 30 and 32 all day, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to do some inside work.
We began by rearranging the kitchen cabinets and drawers to a system that better suits our style of cooking and baking. When that was done, I grabbed the Swiffer mop and dusted the laminate floors and then decided to go ahead and give them a good damp mopping. Surprisingly enough, we seem to have almost as much dust here as we did in Artesia, so we’ll have to work to stay ahead of the elements in the house.
Mother had an appointment to get a perm this morning, so I took her to the beauty shop. I then made the morning post office run and returned to the house where Barbara and I continued doing some cleaning and straightening.
T.J. picked Mother up at the beauty shop and drove her to the local Dairy Queen to meet us and we all enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Mother even got to visit a few minutes with a couple of ladies from her church.
When we got up, we again tackled our “volunteer” project for the Yantis first graders, completing the cutting and stapling for two hands on projects for the kids. Now I know why elementary teachers need so much space in their school workrooms…all those bits and pieces of paper and patterns have to fit somewhere!
Tonight we just took it easy…went to T.J.’s house so I could load a carpet shampooer in her car and to give her the birthday invitations for Edith that we had made for the church members, and then returned to the house to heat up some supper and tune the TV to the KU vs K-State basketball game…and what a game it was! With the athleticism, and spirit demonstrated by both teams, it was a shame that only one could be the winner, and tonight it was KU, but they needed a full game and all but 4 seconds of overtime to do it.
“Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories.” - From the movie An Affair to Remember
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