Another Celebration of Life

Today was Carletta's Celebration of Life. It was very well done and Dave Quick did the sermon. Steve, her son, spoke at length about his mother and her life. Every single person of our congregation attended. Bill would have been there if he could have found someone to work for him. There must have been hundreds of people there. It's a good thing we did have it at the First Baptist Church. It was full.

I picked up Bob A. at 10:00 and we saw a lot of people we knew there. After the service was over, Leslie and I invited him to go with us to Bartlesville. He was going to go but changed his mind before we left. Leslie was going to have the seat belt repaired in the Honda. They had to order the part so she will have to go back on Tuesday to have it installed.

We went to the Washington Park Mall afterward and had a small salad at Garfield's. Leslie has done so well on her new diet. She has lost ten pounds. You can really tell it too. I bought a new spring purse and a jacket off the 75% off rack at Dillard's. The jacket cost me $11.71. Then I found a real nice jean jacket for Jeromy's (my grandson) birthday in April. So it was a productive trip.

When I got home, I washed my car and vacuumed it out. Now all I have to do is dust it inside. It looks a lot better. Bob A. came over and brought me a piece of apple pie he had made this afternoon. I ate it all for my supper. It was very good.

I will have to put Slinky in the kitchen again tonight. It will be down in the 20's later tonight.

Inky came back yesterday and he had lost weight. I hadn't seen him in two or three weeks. I fed him last night and he came back this morning and again tonight. I like him a lot because hes a loving cat..unlike Missy who spits and hisses if she doesn't get her way. I am out of cat treats and she is really unhappy about that.

I am tired this evening. I am going to try to stay awake and go to bed later tonight. I have taken the sermon for Melissa tomorrow. Carletta was her mother. She would not have been able to do the sermon.

Big Day At Work

Bob A. called and asked me to go to breakfast with him before I left for work so I did that. I got home in time to pick up my own car and go to work.

Today, my supervisor had me going through old files and boxing up the older ones to be stored. I spent four hours doing that and assembling the boxes as I went. Was I tired when I finished! Later, one of the supervisors came in and told me her fiscal year was October to September. That meant that I had to go back through two boxes and take out October, November and December 2009 and then re-file them. They don't completely close out and put it away in storage yet. They may need to refer to some of those files. Big job!

I am now waiting for Windsor Place to finish their noon meal so I can go see Phyllis and Jerry. If I have time, I may drive down to Bartlesville this afternoon.

I should clean my bathrooms this afternoon. It is misting outside. But we will see what I decide later.

More later....

I went to see Phyllis and Gerry at Windsor place and Gerry was not in her room. Phyllis was there, asleep in her chair. I took her hand and she woke up. I tried to visit with her a bit. She wanted to tell me something but could not find the words....something about Diana. Then she began to cry. I tried to comfort her but she could not be consoled. It must be terribly frustrating. Finally after about ten minutes or so, I told her I was upsetting her and I would come back at a later time.

Then I stopped at SEKTAM and left a job application and resume' before coming home. Monday I will stop at the library and try to apply there. I figure if I try one application a day, that will satisfy my job search.

Carletta's Celebration of Life is today at 10:00. I will pick up Bob A. after 9:30. The papers got the time wrong and I don't know whether it will begin at 10:00 as Melissa told me and I told everyone I called or at 10:30 as the papers said. But we will play it safe. I may go to Bartlesville with Leslie after the Celebration of Life.

Then last evening, I had a call from Bobby Maritt. Karan had had her knee surgery and was sick to her stomach. She was supposed to have read Melissa's statement this morning but Bobby said the hospital would not release her until she stopped throwing up. He did not know when they would get home from Parsons. But he said I should go over to the family time at the funeral home and tell Melissa about it. I left Slinky asleep in the kitchen..barricaded in.. and went over there and told Melissa. It's good that I signed the book and then came on back home because Slinky was awake and restless.

Then later in the evening Dave Q called needing directions to the funeral home. He is in town to actually do the funeral part of the celebration and is staying at a motel. I gave him directions. Then I went in and took my bath and put my PJ's on. I was exhausted. I watched TV until 8:30 and then just gave up and went to bed.

Fourth Day

This was my fourth day at my training job. I have worked on organizing the office and already we can see vast improvement. It is working out. My supervisor wanted me to take off a half hour early so I would be able to attend Ministerial Alliance. I had worked thirty minutes over on Monday so I left thirty minutes early today. It worked out. The meeting was over at 1:30 and I came home to do the minutes after that. That always takes me awhile.

When I finished, I called the women who will be fixing the lunch for the Lenten Luncheons and also designed an ad for the paper to advertise it. I will put that in the paper a week from Monday. I always enjoy these luncheons. The fellowship is very good.

After that, I tried to think of something to eat for dinner. I needed to get gas in my tank. Gas here has gone up to $3.79 a gallon. I drove three miles over to Oklahoma and bought some for $3.29 per gallon. I couldn't think of anything that sounded good to eat so I stopped at Braum's and bought a milk shake. I had had lasagna, salad and roll at CMA and a cookie and iced tea. So it isn't like I hadn't eaten. I also stopped at the dollar store and bought oatmeal and vitamins.

Tonight I'll try to watch TV if I can find anything worth watching.

Slinky will sleep outside again tonight. It's been 70 degrees today and 48 degrees tonight. The weather has been wonderful. However, it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Saturday.

While it was beautiful today, they got Carletta buried. Her Celebration of Life is to be Saturday at 10:00.

Third Day on Training

This has been another busy day but fun. I spent the morning organizing the files at the office. Then I went by and picked up my brother-in-law and he went to Independence with me to meet Leslie for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then after we took Leslie back she showed us her new car. It is a Toyota Rav 4. It's silver and it has a number of great features...including warmed leather seats and hands off cell phone.

Then I went in and had my haircut and hair done while my brother-in-law walked around town for thirty minutes and got some exercise. We stopped by the church on the way home and I did some duplicating of the agenda for tomorrow's CMA meeting and also the minutes.

I then took him home and came home myself. I fed the animals and read the papers.

Keith called this evening. I had a nice visit with him. My kids are wonderful about calling me almost every day. Leslie usually calls every morning on her way to work. Scott called this morning and so I have heard from them all.

Our idiotic supreme court has ruled in favor of the "church" that pickets the funerals of our service men and women. It's obvious none of them have children in the service of their country.

I guess I will just read tonight. There isn't a thing on TV worth watching.

Second Day

I couldn't make it last night. I went to bed at 8:30 and was woke up with a phone call at 9:00. I got right back to sleep though. I was so tired. Today after I get off my work training, I will call in the number coming for lunch at CMA. Then I need to see my sister, Phyllis, and Gerry. Then I'll go out to Denny's and see if I can be helpful in any way. Duplicating the CMA minutes and agenda can wait until tomorrow when I go to Independence to get my hair cut. I go right by the church.

Slinky slept in the kitchen last night. It was too cold outside. I did wait until he barked to get in though. He slept through the night till almost 5:00. I got up at 5:00 as I always do and did my white laundry and the sheets. The white laundry is in the dryer now. I have yet to get dressed. I am sitting here in my robe. I fixed oatmeal this morning since I had no breakfast yesterday morning. Then I got so busy calling the congregation about Carletta's death, that I also forgot lunch. I kept several spoonfuls of oatmeal for myself and gave the rest to Slinky. He was ecstatic. He loves oatmeal!

More later....

I was just as busy today. She had a lot of work for me to do today but she did come up with a small desk for me. I organized files all morning.

After I got home, Melissa called to tell me the plans for the Celebration of Life for her mother. I had called everyone yesterday but I started calling them back. I sent out an e-mail but many do not check their e-mail regularly. So I delegated the rest of the calling this time. And my daughter will take care of the veggie tray and meat and cheese tray after the private funeral on Thursday morning. I went to see Phyllis and Gerry and later visited Bob and when I got home I had a message that the church they had intended to use was not available.

So this time I called everyone back myself and told them about the change to the First Baptist Church.

I had planned to go to the reunion grounds on Saturday and work the work day. But the family would be hurt so I will attend the Celebration of Life instead.

This evening I am trying to find something to watch on TV. There simply isn't much anymore.

First Day

Today will be the first day of my job training on the job. I dread it. I don't know why except that I am busy and happy and I hate to have to go looking for a job at my age. Who will actually hire a 75 year old woman who wants only part time. It's not going to happen. And the training is going to cut into my life so badly. Oh well, nothing to be done but do it.

I had a good time at Jack and Marilyn's last night. They are so hospitable and it was good of them to invite me. A single person just doesn't really fit in with couples but they invited me anyhow. That was so good of them.

I slept well even though we had a heck of a thunderstorm with tornado warnings and light hail. I didn't go to bed until 10:30 and that was helpful. I let the animals in the kitchen because of the storm and the wind. They probably would have been soaked because of the wind. Slinky slept until 4:00 and then needed to go out. After he came back in and I went back to bed, he began barking for his breakfast. So I put him back out for an hour. At 5:30 I put his breakfast out there on the patio and he ate it and was quiet for awhile but lonely. So I let him back in. He is lying her eat my feet on his cushion now.

More later....

I got home after 1:00 and my daughter called to see how my day went. It was very busy. The woman who is training me had not filed since the first of the year. The auditors had been in and after their audit, there were dozens and dozens of files of invoices that needed to be re-filed. I explained all this to Leslie then asked about Carletta, who has been dying this week. Leslie had not called so she called as soon as we hung up. She called me right back. Carletta had passed away two hours earlier. The family did not want anyone to come out today so after I called the congregation I went to the store and bought some sympathy cards and wrote on them and got them in the mail.

Then I called Melissa, the daughter, back... just to be sure they didn't want me to come out. They were doing fine and did not want any company. The family will have a private funeral and then a little later have a Celebration of Life.

I finished all that by 4:00 and had not eaten anything all day so I stopped at Braums and bought a hamburger and french fries. When I got home I fed the animals and read the paper. I called Marilyn about a job advertised in there. She is looking for a bookkeeping job for a friend.

Then I talked to the president of the CMA, Mark, about the agenda and printed it and the minutes off. After I call in our reservations, I will need to go out to church tomorrow afternoon and make copies for Thursday's meeting. Busy, busy, busy.

Tonight I will sit and watch TV. I believe American Experience is on. I am exhausted.

Nice Sunday

We had a nice group at church this morning and a good discussion in Church School class. The sermon was good too. Afterward six of us went out to eat together. Then after I got my newsletters out, I went to the reception for Gerald Morris, the retiring pastor of Grace Fellowship here in town. They had a huge cake and great punch and plans for their retirement. He had been a minister for 45 years.

Then this afternoon, my eldest son called to say he and his fiance are getting married April 22nd in Sadona. I hope they are not rushing into anything. They have been dating seven months. I hope they will be happy. He is 55 (going on 56) and does not want to spend the rest of his life alone. He is in love and evidently she is too. I wish them the best.

Then Marilyn called and invited me to a party to watch the Academy Awards. I am not terribly interested in the Academy Awards but I never turn down an invitation. Someone told me after Bob died to always accept invitations. When you start turning them down, they stop asking you.

I am grateful for such good friends.

It is 68 degrees here today...earlier it was 70 degrees. If it stays this warm, the animals will be staying out overnight and I may get a good night's sleep.