Friday, April 8, 2016

Friday and the Women's Retreat

I got up shortly before 5:00 this morning. I slept well but I had a lot to do. I packed for the weekend and then made up my face and dressed. Then I got Missy's food and treats for her and fixed my little dab of oatmeal and cranberry juice for breakfast so I could take my meds. Then I drained the beans and added the onions, salt and ham. Later this morning I will bake the cornbread. This will leave something for Bob to eat this weekend while I am gone. He likes beans.

I will leave shortly after  lunch. I want to stop at Christopher and Banks and see if they have any new tops. ...not that I need anything new. I'm just so tired of my fall and winter stuff.

Missy suspects I am leaving for the weekend. She watched me pack and she knows the score. It has happened before and she remembers.  Besides that she wants to go outside and we don't go outside until the sun comes up and we can see what's out there under my car. No sense asking for trouble!

I probably won't get to go to exercise class this morning.  Cox Communications is coming by to hang their cable back on the side of the apartment. The wind has caught it and broken the plastic clips that hold it on the building and it is hanging loose. They are to be here between 8:00 and 10:00 and they say I need to be here. Why, I don't know. It's outside.  

More later....

Well the Cox tech  got the cable fixed in fifteen minutes. So I made it to exercise class after all. Afterward Bob and I went for a cup of coffee at Utopia.  He will be over at 11:30 for lunch. Then I ran out to Walmart to get my Chair Latte. I wanted to fill my rack before I leave. At 11:00 I need to get the oven warmed up for my cornbread. Right after lunch, I will leave. I have my car all packed now.

I probably won't get back to this before Sunday. I'm not taking my laptop with me. If I go to reunion (family camp) in July, I will take it then.


Thursday, April 7, 2016

Thursday and a Celebration of Life

I slept fitfully last night and finally just got up and took a Benadryl tablet to get back to sleep. That worked and finally Missy woke me up at 5:30. She wanted her litter box cleaned out and her breakfast. Darn cat! Anyhow, I got up and did my usual morning chores. Got her treats and fresh cat food. Now she seems happy.

I am soaking some beans for lunch tomorrow.  Bob will need something to eat while I am gone.  We will have them tomorrow at noon and then I will send the rest home with him for Saturday.

When the florist opens I will go in and choose a plant or some flowers from our church for Bobby's  services today. I thought Leslie had probably taken care of that and evidently she didn't think of it. She had her hands full designing and printing off and folding 100 bulletins for the services today. I'm the one that's handy here so I will take care of it.

Bob just texted me that he would pick up some ham to put in the beans. That will add a lot of flavor. And it will give him something to carry him over the weekend. I will eat with the family at 11:30 at the church.

More later....

The service went fine! The one at the cemetery also went fine. There was a huge crowd there. Bobby's brother, Dean said, "Well, Bobby filled the church. The first time that's happened in a long time!".

David, the pastor there, did well too. He and his wife both have beautiful voices. They sang Amazing Grace. Some of the congregation shared their Bobby experiences after I did.

We went out to the cemetery and the crowd mostly followed us out.  David had not realized they would need a short devotion at the cemetery. Luckily I prepared...just in case. Bob took me by our church to leave the casket flowers. Karan wanted us to display them for Sunday. I hope they hold up well. This is only Thursday.

I came home and changed my clothes and got out of my dress clothes. Now it's 3:40 and I am very tired. Maybe I will read.

This is the stucco mudding going on at my son and daughter-in-law's new home.

 
I'll bet he's excited! Here's another scene!

It will probably be Sunday evening before I get back on here to bring an update. I leave after lunch tomorrow for my Women's Retreat.

More later...

I watched CNN for awhile with Missy. Then at 9:00, I went to bed. I was very glad this day was over. 

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Wednesday and Exercises and then Bunco

I slept poorly last night. I went to bed too early. I awoke at 2:00 AM and it was on and off from then on. Finally around 4:45 AM, I just got up.

I've had my breakfast and so has Missy.  Now I'm having my coffee and doing this blog. Later, I will read yesterday's paper.

Bob will be by just before 9:00 to pick me up for exercises. After dinner I will go back to the senior center to play Bunco. That will give me something fun to do with my afternoon. Missy can take a nap.
I will need to bake some brownies for the Bunco game day.

It may rain today. It was supposed to have rained last night but it's too dark out now to tell if it did.

More later...

Well, it didn't rain but there wind was fierce. Bob picked me up for exercises and afterward I baked my brownies for the Bunco game day. Then I warmed up the hamburger pie and we ate it again for lunch. I sent the remainder home with Bob since I won't be cooking again this week. I may fix some beans for him to eat over the weekend. I will be eating with the family tomorrow before the Celebration of Life for Bobby.  The celebration itself is at 1:00.

I went out to the funeral home for the family and friends meeting. There were quite a few there. I stayed thirty minutes and signed the book. I thought I might not have time to do that tomorrow.

When I got home Bob came over and watched TV until 7:00. When he left, I took my bath and sat with Missy and watched Nature on PBS until 8:30 when I finally just went to bed.  I was very tired. 



Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Tuesday and Cakes Again

Today I have four cakes to take to Independence. I have to stop at the church and pick up Sue's. She left it there on Sunday. I hate that because that means I have to take that horrible detour to Independence. It is so hard on my car. Usually I would take the Sunflower road east of Coffeyville but when Sue leaves hers at the church for me to pick up, I have to take the rough detour.

I stayed up late last night to try to get Cox Communications on the phone. My e-mail would send but not receive.  I was on hold 9 minutes on my cell phone and another 6 minutes to just get one question answered. The question was "Is your e-mail server in Coffeyville down?" It took the tech a while to admit the entire state of Kansas was down. I took the opportunity to tell him how disappointed I have been with their service since they closed our local office. He apologized but I told him that wasn't  good enough.They have raised their rates every year (this year.. another $5.00) but their service has deteriorated to "terrible". I am paying $83.00 per month for the second from the bottom tier and my internet service. When I first signed up for their internet service ten years ago, it was $15.95.  Now it is $29.99 per month.  What a racket! And on top of everything else, they are a monopoly unless one wants to go to dish. We are 73 miles away from the nearest TV station so an antenna isn't an option.

Enough of a rant!

This morning the e-mail server was working again. At least the desktop computer e-mail was working. This laptop failed the e-mail test. When I finish the blog, I will reboot it and see if that helps.

I will also get my hair done while in Independence this morning. And we will go eat at Great China afterward.

Leslie got the bulletin for Thursday's service for Bobby finished last night. It turned out wonderful. She did such a good job! She found this on the internet and added it.



All Is Well
Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

More later....

I ended up going out to church and getting Sue's cake so we could then go vote and then go on to Independence by using the Tyro road.

We delived the cakes and then I got my hair done.

After that, I went by the Equity Bank to try to find out why they sent me a statement about an IRA I supposedly had there. I have never had an IRA at Equity Bank or even at the First Federal that it used to be. But they had my name and address on it and the amount I was supposed to have set up and even the last four of my social security number. They even had my daughter's name penciled in as beneficiary. But I certainly didn't have over $3,000 to put into an IRA in May of 2014 and certainly didn't take out over $3,000 in February 2015. So it's a mystery to me and they are trying to locate the original document that is in Wichita to see the signature on it.

Then we went to eat lunch at Great China.

After that, I took Bob on home and then went out to South Coffeyville to the Woodshed to get gas for the car.

More even later...

This afternoon Missy and I spent a lot of time outside.  She loves being outside.  After I got the paper, I came back in to read it.  Soon Bob came over to watch the news and the CBS news.

After he left I took my bath and sat for awhile in the recliner with Miss Kitty. Then at 8:30, I went to bed. I was exhausted!

Monday, April 4, 2016

Monday and Exercises

Today is exercise class again and I may go after all. I have my laundry in the dryer and it's just 6:30.

I can't vacuum until later in the morning anyhow because Jeannie, my neighbor, sleeps later. I will do my kitchen and bathroom and bare floors before the class at 9:00.  That's a quiet cleaning.

We will have hamburger pie today for lunch/dinner..with salad. I have chocolate pudding and cookies for dessert.

Family visitation for Bobby's celebration services will be Wednesday between 5:00 and 8:00. The actual service will be Thursday at 1:00. David and I are invited to the family dinner at 11:30 on Thursday. I will miss my ministerial alliance meeting but that's secondary to Bobby's Celebration of Life.

Leslie and I worked on the bulletin last night. It's all ready to be printed off as soon as the funeral home posts the obituary. Then we will copy and paste it into the right hand page of the bulletin.  Leslie is going to print off 100 copies. They have 40 in their congregation. We have 20 and then there are lots of relatives.

I want to get a card today for Karan.

More later...

I got the bathroom and the kitchen cleaned and the floors washed in there. I even have the table set.  Now I'll wait until after lunch to vacuum. That way Jeannie will be up and around...I hope.

I am now washing Missy's afghans. They get cat hair all over them. Every couple of weeks I have to wash them. She's mystified now. She can't figure out where her afghan has gone. She sniffed around at the chair and then got down. Didn't even lie down.

In about 45 minutes I'll pick up Bob for exercise class.

More later...

Exercise class went fine and when I got home I finished my cleaning. Then I started dinner/lunch. That turned out fine too.  I took some of our hamburger pie over to Marilyn R. Afterward, I took Missy outside. She is determined to be outside. I wouldn't care but I'm afraid one of the three "stray" cats in the neighborhood will hurt her.

There's a mystery. I received a report from the Equity Bank this afternoon that they found a mistake on my IRA disbursement and sent me a correction. The problem is...I have no IRA and I have never done any business with Equity Bank except to pay my rent into a trust located there.  It was formerly First Federal Savings and Loan and I never did any business with them either. I called the 800 number and sure enough it had my birthdate on it and also my SSN.  The woman at Equity Bank I spoke to said she would look into it and get back with me. I hope she does.  It's a mystery. Maybe someone is using my information illegally somehow.

More later....

I had another incident with the computer/printer. This time I rebooted the desktop computer and also pulled the plug on the printer and then pushed it back in. Then it printed.  Strange! But it works. I wanted to add the obituary to the bulletin we put together for the Celebration of Bobby's Life.  It printed it off then with just plain paper.

Bob is not coming over this evening. There's nothing worth watching on TV tonight. I will read.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Sunday and Church

It's Sunday again and I am ready for church.

My friend, Bobby M., died yesterday about 11:45. Karan, his wife, called me while Leslie and I were still in Joplin. When we got home, about 5:00, we went by to visit her. We talked briefly about the services for Bobby. His pastor is a pretty new pastor and had completed seminary just a short while ago. He is Korean and this is his first church. He called me and I talked to him later in the day.  The services will be held in his church, Trinity United Methodist Church. I was to help him with it. Karan wants a celebration of Bobby's life instead of a funeral. I then learned that he had never done a funeral service and didn't seem to know how to begin. He wanted me to send him the order of service.  So I did that. I have a feeling I will be more or less in charge. I have done several dozen funerals and celebrations of life over the years so that's not a problem. But David was Bobby's pastor. Karan is to meet with the funeral home today and make arrangements for a day for the services.  The obit is not out yet so it's too early to make a definite plan.

I have had my breakfast and fed Missy. I have read the paper and I am ready for church.

After church we will decide where to eat lunch. We may go back to "Just Us". Bob and Phyllis F and I really like to go there. I can call ahead and reserve a table. I will wait and see what the group wants to do.

More later...

After the service, John and Leslie were going to go to Hong Kong Delight and Phyllis and Bob and I don't care to eat there. So Phyllis took her car home and Bob and I picked her up and we drove to Cherryvale to "Just Us".  That's where we like to eat.

After we ate we came back home and I worked on my newsletters and Leslie and I also worked on the bulletin for Bobby's Celebration of Life service. It is scheduled for  Thursday at 1:00.

This evening I ate my yogurt and then Bob came over to watch the news and 60 Minutes.  After he left I took my bath and I want to watch "Race to the White House". Then Missy and I will go to bed.