Joy and Thanksgiving

 I love the meme above. Since ‘joy’ is my 2024 word, I thought this meme was a great reminder of where I want to direct my energy in the new year. I want to do new things and not expect to be perfect; I want to do them and enjoy what I am doing. So far in 2023 I have enjoyed a journey without a paying job to go to everyday. As I recover from years and years of working, I want to be able to be free to try new things.

By the way, in high school I was in choir all four years. I even did ensemble. I can’t sing worth a darn, but I sure loved singing in choir. Somewhere along the way, I lost the sense of trying new things for the sake of trying without worrying if I would be any good at it.

During this week of Thanksgiving, it is a perfect time to think of what we are grateful for in our life. Today, I am grateful to have Joe Coehlo as my partner.

Joe went to work today at his new job. He spent the day in orientation, mostly safety videos as he had done the administrative paperwork on Friday afternoon. This is a good week to start back up as the plant will be closed on Thursday and Friday.

After sorting clothes at the thrift store, I drove to Buffalo to do last minute shopping for Thanksgiving and then came home and caught up on financial paperwork. After a couple of episodes of Medium (Season 6), I took an hour nap. Then I puttered around the flat. One of the benefits of a small living space is that cleaning is quick and relatively painless. With an iRobot to sweep the floors it’s easier to maintain clean living quarters.

Remember to think of one thing to be grateful for today. Feel free to leave a note in comments or on my Facebook page.

Rest in Peace Rosalynn Carter

Rest in Peace Rosalynn Carter. I have always admired Rosalynn and Jimmy for their humanitarian work which continued well beyond their years in the White House.

Rosalynn Carter’s advocacy for destigmatizing mental health, for mental health reform, for women’s rights, and her compassionate and kind nature are a tremendous legacy.

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I ran across a comic strip on Facebook. It was written for me.

 

Happy Sunday.

Rockford Stats and Entertaining Grandkids

I started reading the Rockford Historical Society website and went down a rabbit hole for a good while. Not sure my brain retained much; however, I enjoyed reading the mini biographies on early settlers.

                          Photo taken in the fall - the Crow River runs through Rockford, Mn.

The company Joe goes to work at on Monday is Kingspan. They are an international manufacturing company with headquarters in Ireland. We are amazed they are in Rockford, Minnesota, population 4804 (the Rockford Chamber of Commerce records 4802 – I added two for Joe and me). I was surprised to discover that the Rockford Chamber of Commerce website states there are 467 businesses employing over 3,784 people in Rockford. The unemployment rate is 1.7%. Notedly, several firms have multiple jobs available at any given time. True Value and Kingspan among them. Meanwhile, the City of Rockford Development Department states there are 110 businesses employing 1,000+ people. Certainly 3,784 people are more than 1000. Pretty hefty + sign there.

Charlotte is the early riser in Megan & Jeremy’s family on the days Jeremy does not work. She came down at 8:00am this morning and climbed on the Street Strider. She bounced from activity to activity until Megan came and got her to eat breakfast. Caleb also joined us. Chess with Grandpa, 5 minutes at a time on the street strider, a bit of Adapted Mind educational games, and they were content to hang out with us old folks.

At one point in the morning, Joe took Pan for their daily 5-mile walk. Charlotte grabbed her sketch book and sketched out a story about a man who turned into a monster when he held a crystal. Caleb watched science YouTube videos on dinosaurs. Charlotte played, “Guess the animal” with me – she acts out various animals and I get to guess. I am not a good guesser. Today I missed with, “Grandma, I was a lion. I thought about being a tiger, but I chose lion.” This was after I guessed lion. How am I to know she changed her mind…

After a break for lunch, they came back down for another thirty minutes until they were allowed video game time in the family room. Video games beat grandparents every time. My reward for all this morning company was a well-deserved nap.

Tonight’s dinner was all you could eat at a sushi place in Plymouth, Mn. It was nice to go out with the family. I forgot my hearing aids, so conversation was more difficult. At least for family members when I kept asking them to repeat themselves. 

Happenings in the Household!

November 15.2023

Charlotte’s reading for this week is titled Terrible Nightmare. Jeremy told me she asked to read it to me today. As soon as she sat down with her story she said, “It has your name in it!” Sure enough, the character in the story was Beth.

At twilight, Beth took a nap on the couch and dreamt she was lost in her car on the road. (I assured Charlotte that I have not gotten lost because I use WAZE). We both agreed I liked to take naps so that part of the story seemed real.

Suffice it to say, Beth saw cows on the road she was lost on. The road came to a dead end and Beth had to choose to turn left or right. She made a choice (this sounds like all our lives). The choice she made resulted in the road coming to a dead end. Then Beth woke up! And everything was okay.

I enjoy listening to Charlotte read and today’s story seemed extra special because Charlotte recognized my name when she saw it and liked the nap part. Charlotte’s reading is coming along nicely. She likes to read with inflection now and is self-correcting when she skips or reads a word incorrectly.

As an avid reader, I appreciate witnessing Charlotte’s progress. I forgot second grade could be so fun this second time around!

Caleb played a game of chess with Grandpa and is now playing an educational game on Grandpa Joe’s computer. Both kids have done a turn on the Street Strider. They make it look easy. I am pretty sure that watching them use it does not constitute exercise on my part.

Yesterday it got up to 62 degrees! One would never know it snowed two weeks ago! Today was around 58 degrees. When I came out of my volunteer stint at 1:15 pm, I started sweating on the walk to my car. Admittedly it is an uphill walk so it could have been from exertion and not the temperature. I had to take my lightweight jacket off to be comfortable. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low sixties.

On Monday, barring any unforeseen complications, Joe is going back to work. He would like to have a home machine shop. While he has plenty of tools, he does not have machines. Joe gets to keep the money he earns for buying machines. He will work Monday through Thursday from 7:00am to 7:00pm. He will be an extrusion machine operator at a manufacturing company about a mile and a half away. He plans to walk to and from work as the weather permits. I am excited for him as he has been a wonderful provider for our family. Now he gets to work toward making his home machine shop dream a reality.

Minnesota (and Everywhere Else) Nice

Minnesota nice. That’s like a thing. Of all the places Joe and I could have chosen to move to, a nice place is deeply appreciated. The people I’ve been volunteering with at the RiverWorks Thrift Store are nice. That would be expected. I think people who volunteer are by their very nature nice. I have friends that are so busy they do not have time to formally volunteer. Still, they are the ones taking care of a family member(s) without pay – another form of volunteering.

Growing up, my family was both on the receiving and the giving end of other people’s kindnesses. I have appreciated the opportunities to volunteer over the years. It is a wonderful way to meet people with the same sense of civic duty and interests. My volunteer stints have included working events with Soroptimists of Woodland, serving on the Yolo County Arts Board and the Yolo County Grand Jury, classroom volunteering while the kids were in school, and cookie mom while Megan was in Girl Scouts.

It pleases me to see my daughter involved in volunteering. Megan is a co-leader of Charlotte’s Brownie troop, the troop cookie mom for the third year in a row, and she volunteers at the council level with Fall product sales and as a co-chair of cookie sales. As a teenager, Megan volunteered at the Yolo County Animal Shelter and at Homeward Bound (Golden Retriever rescue) and coached a girls soccer team one season.

I am not writing this for kudos. I really would like to encourage people to volunteer when and where they can. Oddly enough, volunteering has improved my life by introducing me to the most amazing people. People I would never have met by sitting at home, exhausted after a day of work. I’ve also gained a better understanding of how county and city governments worked in California. I’ve been exposed to talented people from all walks of life and watched a child during an aha moment of learning.

I’ve heard people say, “It doesn’t pay to be nice.” That is simply not true. I run from people with that attitude. The payback of being nice is in feeling connected to the universe and understanding that individuals can make a difference in the lives of others. 

A Head Start on Christmas Lights

Driving home this evening we got to experience the joy of Christmas. Rockford has decorated the main thoroughfares with stars (Highway 55) and huge red bows with garlands (on Highway 20/Main Street).

We drove into Buffalo this afternoon to pick up Joe’s new glasses and do a bit of grocery shopping. We got back into town after dark and I caught a photo of the lighted stars as we waited to turn on to Main Street.

I discovered the Rockford Area Historical Society webpage today. I’ll share some of what I learn in the days ahead. I was interested because we pass the Ames-Florida-Stork historic house several times a week. One good thing about my nosy nature is that I am always learning something new!

Ames-Florida-Stork house circa 1860

Quilts of Valor

On Sunday, November 12, 2023, my cousin Tammy Higley presented a Quilt of Valor to her brother (yes, also my cousin), Denver Douglas (Doug) Higley. Doug and his wife Karen were able to make it to Huntsville, Alabama for the presentation ceremony.

Tammy Replogle, Doug Higley, and Karen Higley as Doug is presented the 

Quilt of Valor, designed and pieced together by Tammy.

Tammy and friend holding up the completed Quilt of Valor presented to Doug.

The quilt was designed by Tammy. She also designed and pieced the top of the quilt. Two of her friends assisted with completing the quilt. One friend quilted and the other friend bound the quilt.

When I saw Tamny’s Facebook post, I was deeply touched by her act of successfully completing this quilt honoring her brother. When Joe and I visited Tammy and Kent this past April, she shared with us about the project. She also took me to a quilting meeting where I learned to appreciate the beauty, vision, and hard work of quilters in general.

My cousin Doug served in the Air Force from 1972 to 1976 and then in the Air National Guard from 1976 to his retirement in 2007. Thank you, Doug, for your service.

The Quilt of Valor Foundation (QOVF) was established in 2003 by Catherine Roberts whose son was deployed in Iraq. She established the group because of a dream she had. I took this quote by her from the Quilts of Valor website, https://www.qovf.org/: “The dream was as vivid as real life. I saw a young man sitting on the side of his bed in the middle of the night, hunched over. The permeating feeling was one of utter despair. I could see his war demons clustered around, dragging him down into an emotional gutter. Then, as if viewing a movie, I saw him in the next scene wrapped in a quilt. His whole demeanor changed from one of despair to one of hope and well-being. The quilt had made this dramatic change. The message of my dream was: Quilts = Healing.”

As a result of Roberts’ dream the national organization consists of more than 600 groups with 10,000 members in all 50 states and several other countries. As of May 4, 2023, there have been 350,000 quilts awarded.

The November 12, 2023, Huntsville, Alabama ceremony awarded six Quilts if Valor during their ceremony.

Who gets a Quilt of Valor? Any service member or living veteran who served in one of the following branches: army, Marines, Navy, air Force, and Coast Guard. Members of the activated National Guard and activated or active duty-special work (ADSW) reservists are included. The mission statement of QOVF is “To cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.

Congratulations Doug! Thank you for your service.

Congratulations Tammy! I know this meant a lot to you to honor Doug.

Love you both for your big hearts and willing hands. 

Befuddled

Things that befuddle me at this time of year:

The posts that begin appearing in social media about how people are taking the Christ out of Christmas. Have you ever met one single person who said that we need to take the Christ out of Christmas? It seems to me a total non-issue and yet there are people getting really riled up over this. December shares other holidays during the month and that is why people tend to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Are we supposed to get all upset because people are commemorating Veteran’s Day in November while Thanksgiving is also in November? Or vice versa?

The posts that insist on using name calling as if it is a defense of their political or sports team affiliation. If I call you stupid that means I am right? This is so prevalent; it makes me incredibly sad. We get angry at politicians for behaving in this manner. Truth, here, if you are on my Facebook or Instagram feed, I am going to hold you to my standard which is pretty darn high. If you hate Ohio State football team that’s perfectly fine. Denigrating all Ohioans as stupid is not.

You don’t like a movie? Don’t watch it. You don’t like a certain politician? Don’t vote for them. Bashing other people to make ourselves feel superior in some way is not okay. Now I am not talking about politicians or anyone else conducting illegal activities. They need to be held accountable.

Let’s get real for a moment here, people. There are real struggles in the world right now that we can be concerned about. Someone saying Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas is not a real struggle. It is a personal choice. So, speak up and say Merry Christmas if it’s important to you. Most likely the person you say it to will wish you a Merry Christmas as well. If they say Happy Holidays in response, they are not denigrating you and your beliefs. If your football team is so important to you that you must consider your number one football rival and their fans stupid, you need to search your soul and figure out how to let go of all that ugliness. It’s football. It’s a game. One you are passionate about. One your rival team’s fans are passionate about.

No wonder there is such a divide over politics in this country. Heck, we struggle with holiday greetings and football rivalries.

Sleeping & Coping with the Cold

Sunday is one of my favorite days since retiring. Before I retired, Sunday was usually a nice day. However, by the time Sunday bedtime rolled along I would struggle with getting to sleep. I’d toss and turn. I’d listen to a sleep story, maybe two sleep stories before falling asleep.

In retirement, I sleep more than I did during my work years. I sleep better, I wake up feeling rested most mornings. I like Sunday best now because it is the official day of rest in my head. Guilt-free rest. Odd how I was indoctrinated into believing that I could rest when I die and the rest of the time, I had to be productive. I am finding this is not true. The world is not coming to a complete halt because I rest more in retirement.

Some people have said, “You deserve retirement!” I think this is a nice sentiment; however, I think all of us deserve to rest more. Rest can be hanging out with friends, spending time with other people we love, reading a book, watching a TV show or movie. It can be cooking a meal for someone we love or baking. Anything that we want to do, anything that makes us feel joy.

The colder weather could also be responsible for my desire to hibernate. It has been in the mid-30’s to mid-40’s this past week. When I went to the thrift store to volunteer this past Wednesday, I got too hot. After three hours of sorting, I was exhausted. At first, I thought I might have a fever until the other volunteers started complaining about the heat.

I bought a winter jacket and wore it on Halloween night when we sat outside after dark. The rest of the time I have a lightweight flannel jacket I wear to the store. One of the employees comes to work in her shorts and sandals. Yesterday, during our car tour of area neighborhoods, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Two women in their 80’s were visiting with each other over lunch. They were both wearing sandals. How cool is that?

Joe went for a job interview on Friday and came home to tell me that the factory he toured was warm. After years of wearing a t-shirt, a turtleneck, a polo shirt, and a heavy jacket at his job in California because the temperature was below 68 in his shop the warmth in the factory here comes as a shock.

I know it will get colder as fall ends and winter begins. Maybe that’s when I’ll begin to see boots instead of sandals. Long pants instead of shorts. Coats instead of long-sleeved shirts and sweaters. 

House Hunt Lament

We drove around Rockford, Delano, and Hanover today, checking out neighborhoods. The homes for sale inventory in these areas is low. At the same time, we are seeing homes stay on the market for longer periods of time. Weeks now instead of the days we saw over the past two and a half years in this area. I've been watching the market since about January 2021 when Megan was shopping for a home in Rockford.

People think home prices are cheaper here than in Woodland. They are not, necessarily. Homeowner’s insurance and real estate taxes are more in this area. In Woodland for our home, we paid $500 a year for homeowners; here it is $2500 and up for the same valued home. Due to the weather, primarily hailstorms in Rockford, roofs are replaced in less than 15 years. A roofer told me that most places won’t install a roof guaranteed for more than 15 years. A twelve-year-old roof is considered a big risk when buying a home. New roof prices start at $20,000.00.

I have concluded that until I have the cash in hand for a house, I am going to stop looking at the housing market for what I think I want. Nothing has spoken to me except one house and that ended up being a poor choice for us. I love the house BUT it is heated with propane. Propane is extremely costly. I also have it in my mind that it is dangerous. As a child we lived in a home with a propane stove, and it blew up one night. I remember everything being covered in soot for days as we tried to clean up from it. I am sure technology is better than in the 1960’s. Still, the cost is not one I want us to take on.

I loved driving around and checking out neighborhoods though. It is neat to see how much people love their homes. It is good to rule out that most of the homes in downtown Rockford are out of the question for us. The garages are detached. It would be one thing if the garages were connected even by a small, covered walkway. Nope, in some cases the garages are at the back of the property and accessible by staircases. Can you imagine people walking up outdoor stairways after a snow or ice storm? I am too old for that stuff. I want to be able to unload my car from the comfort of an attached garage.

Other neighborhoods are newer and have no trees, backyards, or personalities. Those neighborhoods are easy to rule out.  Especially the areas with McMansions. We are at the age when we want to not have too much house to take care of so that we can’t enjoy living in it.

I have convinced myself that when the time comes, the house we want will become available. So, I need to stop my ‘house hunt lament’ and spend my time on a pursuit more rewarding. I’ll let you know what that may be at some point. For now, I am happy reading, hanging out with grandkids and Joe, and catching up on some television shows and movies I missed over the past 40 years.

Formo Friday

As I sit down to write tonight, Charlotte is showing Joe how to play checkers her way. I overheard her tell him, “I want to show you, my way. It is not the right way.” Grandpa is onboard.

Tonight’s dinner was breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs, sausage patties, bacon, pancakes – both plain and chocolate chip, and strawberries. This meal is a family favorite. After dinner, Caleb came down to play with Legos while Charlotte took her shower. Now it is his turn to shower and Charlotte is showing grandpa how to play checkers her way.

Both kids disappeared this afternoon for several hours. Friday afternoon is the first opportunity they have to get some screen time – video games – during school weeks. That meant I took a nap before dinner. It also meant it was quiet upstairs while they conquered levels on whichever games they are playing this week. 

Caleb and Charlotte have departed for upstairs and family movie night. Jermey, Megan, Caleb, Charlotte, Pan, and Rufio all gather in the front living room and watch a kid friendly movie. Pan loves hanging out with us, but he goes upstairs for movie night!

There is a new business in Rockford called The Spot by NutriSource. Megan went to tour it today as she believes it would be beneficial for her Brownie troop to learn about the dog training the company offers. The company has dog boarding, grooming, and play areas. The proceeds from the business are used to support the work they do to train dogs for veterans and first responders. The company mission aligns with Megan’s beliefs about responsible animal care. The general manager gave Megan a tour and offered to do a presentation for her troop onsite.

Tomorrow Megan and Charlotte have a girl scout outing planned. Jeremy and Caleb are planning on a Stranger Things marathon while the  "girls" are out of the house. Joe and I may go for a drive to see neighborhoods we haven’t explored in the area. We have enjoyed getting to know the area. Currently, the housing supply is mostly new homes and frankly they just feel so sterile – both inside and out. I tell myself to be patient and that once we are ready the right house will come along. It is a waiting game and I need to work on my patience.

Afternoons with Charlotte

Charlotte often comes down to visit us after school on the days she is here. She tells me she is coming to hang out. She climbs on the Street Strider and ‘works out’ for minutes at a time. She chews gum, always asking first. I have told her that she is welcome to get a piece of gum anytime and no need to ask each time. She responded, “I know. It’s nice to ask though.” So, she asks, and I always say yes.

She is only allowed to chew gum in our flat. In the past she had forgotten she had the gum and fallen asleep. It seems gum and her long blonde hair are attracted to each other. Megan had told us early on she doesn’t allow the kids gum because they forget to throw it out in the garbage, and it ends up in their hair or on the floor. Megan is fine with Charlotte having gum in our flat if I supervise the tossing out of gum. It works so far.

This afternoon Charlotte read her weekly page to me before she could “hang out.” Then she had sentences to write in response to questions about the story. Testing for comprehension. I enjoy listening to her sounding out and spelling her full sentence responses. She is doing pretty good with it even when it can feel painstakingly slow to an experienced reader/writer like me.  

Charlotte also likes to make up stories to tell me or act out stories in her head. Megan liked acting out stories (along with her sister, Lauren) when she was younger. I think Charlotte enjoys having me as an audience member. She plays board games with Grandpa Joe and imagination and creativity is my bailiwick.

Yesterday, I was super tired in the afternoon and laid down for a nap. I think it is still a side-effect of the Shingrix vaccine from this past weekend. Charlotte has gotten comfortable coming into our bedroom to wake me up so she can visit with me. After she roused me from the nap we read. Then she played Scrabble for the first time with Grandpa. One of the words she played was mob. I asked her if she knew what the word meant, and she told me it meant the enemy. At dinner last night I mentioned this to Jeremy and Megan. It seems there is a video game that refers to the mob as the enemy.

Joe modified the Scrabble game so that they just built words anywhere on the board. They don’t keep score and they didn’t worry about building off existing words. I think as the game advanced; they began to do that. Joe is creative in adjusting games to the kids’ levels and building their strategy skills over time.

Caleb prefers to spend his afterschool time building Lego items. It is his way of unwinding from his day. By dinner he is ready to be social and play a game with grandpa.

 

 

Day off

I am taking a rare day off from writing. All is well. Kept busy today and realized time got away from me.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday Travels (Okay, Travels = Errands)

Costco Gas, Costco, Cub, Wright County Compost & Recycle, Buffalo Eye Clinic, and Target were all on our list of places to visit today.

We hit Costco Gas in Maple Grove when there was no line at all, a first for us, and were delighted to pay $3.00/gallon for gas. That’s the best price we’ve seen in a long time. Costco Warehouse was not as busy as many Tuesday mornings, so our shopping went quickly. Cub takes our U Care card which is issued by our Medicare advantage plan through United Health. Our Cub groceries were free to us this week as we had earned money for healthcare activities during October. That saved us $90.00 out of pocket.

Wright County Compost & Recycle is where we take excess cardboard. We had cardboard from our snow tires and recent Amazon packages that would not fit in the regular recycle for curbside pickup. When we got there the place was empty and we were able to drive right in and drop off within a few minutes. Then it was to Buffalo Eye Clinic to pick up my new glasses and Joe’s new sunglasses.

Lucky for us Shannon was free to help us. I wrote about our visit with Shannon last month. Today we learned about her dog, Brodie, he is a sweetheart. He was a stray she came across and even though he was tagged, tracing ownership ended in a dead end. Brodie is 9 years old and loves Shannon. They are both a gift to each other. Shannon shared a video of Brodie. He loves to take her slippers (when she is not wearing them) and he keeps one in his bed and another in a chair he likes to sit in. He doesn’t chew them – he only moves them. He moves her other slippers too into other parts of the house. I always enjoy hearing about people’s animals!

Our last stop was Target to pick up something for Megan. Now we are home and Joe is out walking Pan in the neighborhood. They usually walk five miles a day. It is getting dark earlier (around 5:00pm) which puts a crimp in both Joe and Pan’s plan for today as it was 4:30 pm when they left the house. They like to go out and walk on Hwy 20 to a dirt road about two miles away. Then they walk up the dirt road for another half mile. When they return to the house, they have a five-mile walk. I asked Joe to keep it in the neighborhood today because there are sidewalks so he thought he might walk five loops of the neighborhood which will give him five miles.

My plan for the evening is to catch a few episodes of Medium on Amazon Prime Video and get to bed early. I am still recovering from my Shingrix vaccine this past weekend. I’d rather feel achy and tired with a sore arm than to get Shingles!

For those of you considering retirement. I find I enjoy a day of errands. The nicest feeling is that none of the errands must be done in a hurry. I can enjoy the scenery on our drives, and I do not have it playing in my head that I must get everything done because tomorrow I must go to work. It is a very free feeling. Also, not being in my head in anticipation of the work to get done, sure frees up a lot of energy to enjoy the world around me. 

Tagging and Sorting

Volunteer work today meant tagging and hanging up children's clothing at the thrift store. Tagging means using this Apparel Tagging Gun (below) to attach a blank white tag to each article of clothing. We do not price the clothing individually as they will be sold on racks with one set price for the items. An example is that women’s long-sleeved shirts are all sold for $6.50. No need to put $6.50 on each item. The tag is an identifier that the shirt was inspected by the thrift store before putting it up for sale.

We sort the clothes by size on the moving racks. Once full the moving racks are taken up to the store floor where the clerks add the clothing to the current inventory. I had quite a bit to sort as children’s clothing is small. I had girl's sizes 0-3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 2T, 3T, and 4T.

Twenty-four months clothes are for 18-24 months old, while 2T is for 2-3 years old children. 24 months clothes have more room for diapers, while 2T clothes have a slimmer silhouette for toilet-trained kids. Normally 24-month clothes are found in the baby department and 2T clothes in the children's department. I just learned this today when I came home and Googled the difference in sizes.

It is probably something all of the other moms in the world already know. Megan toilet-trained herself before her first birthday so we never got into some of these sizes.

Anyway, last week I also learned how to use a hand-held pricing device when we did a little bit of Christmas product pricing. See old women like me CAN learn new skills.

Laundry Thoughts

Laundry, prepping our flat for Roomba to clean the floors, and watching a few episodes of Season 3 of Medium on Amazon Prime makes for a restful Sunday.

I have a friend who says things about laundry that make me laugh, though I have felt the same way on several laundry days.

               “I swear that neighbors are dropping off their laundry when I’m not looking.”

               “I think the day I don’t have laundry will be the day I am dead.”

When we were in Woodland visiting my friend, Kim, told me she was disappointed the house didn’t come with the Laundry Fairy. Joe is the Laundry Fairy. Though truthfully, he will even admit I help – even if it’s the folding phase.

When I saw this meme today it struck home.

Getting Old is Expensive!

Nice dinner out this evening. Jeremy and Megan went to a Minnesota Gopher’s football game, and we elected to dine out in Delano this evening. We went to The King House and ate ramen. We ended our meal with a mascarpone berry dessert. Yum!

We are settling in with books for the evening. I am reading the latest Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum, book on Kindle. Joe is reading a Kerry Greenwood book that is part of the Corrina Chapman series. He recently finished all the Phryne Fisher series, also by Kerry Greenwood. I read both series over the years and they are excellent if you like mysteries and strong female characters.

This morning we went to Buffalo for the first of my shingles vaccines. I am all up to date with vaccines until January when I will go in for the second shingles shot.

I am grateful that my insurance covers the cost of all the vaccines. I was surprised to find out what my insurance company paid to Walgreens for my recent vaccines:

Shingrix $226.75

Pneumonia $264.68

RSV     $329.79

Since I have had full coverage with Kaiser since 2015, I had no clue the cost of vaccines as Kaise also paid in full. I don’t see a charge for our COVID-19 or Flu vaccines so those may be free of charge to us and not billed to our insurance company.

I also appreciate my insurance picking up the partial coverage for my eyeglasses and hearing aids. Gosh, getting old is expensive!

Today I enjoyed watching Lessons In Chemistry (Apple TV) and finished Season 4 of Ghost Whisperers. The rest of my day will be devoted to reading. 

Friday Musings

Every morning I read the news and then spend the rest of the day shaking it off. I feel more content when I do not let too much of the world's unrest seep into my spirit.

While I am aware of what is going on in the world around me, I also want to protect my inner peace. It is one area of my life that I can set boundaries. The boundary between being aware and caring so much I get stuck in the mire.

I wonder at times:

     Is it enough to love and care for others as I can?

     Is it enough to not challenge other people's political beliefs because I know I am not             going to change their mind?

     Is it enough to love everyone where they are at, in this moment, even when I disagree           with their values?

 And that leads me to wonder how much energy I have “to be enough" after all the years of feeling that I am not meeting the expectations of someone at some point. I desperately want to let go of trying to meet expectations. My own and other people. Except somewhere in the last sixty-seven years, I lost track of which expectations are someone else’s and which are my own.

I am not sad or discouraged which the above ponderings may imply. Simply curious more than anything as to how others protect their sanity amidst the news of the day. I am laying my thoughts out in case someone else, somewhere else, has some of the same thoughts or similar. Please feel free to share how you cope.

Minnesota Musings

The photo is of our windshield at 9:45 am this morning. I thought it was pretty.

The ice formations look like snowflakes we would make in gradeschool,

Appearances. Appearances don't count for diddly! In the end, all that really matters is what was true, and truly felt, and how we treated one another. – Julia Sugerbaker

Designing Women was one of the few TV shows I watched when it originally aired. When I see clips the show still seems relevant. The other day I ran across a clip with Julie talking with her sister, Suzanne, about Suzanne’s insecurity and her need to be physically beautiful.

After volunteering for a few hours at the thrift shop today, I came home, ate my lunch, and proceeded to take a 3-hour nap. Woke up in time for spaghetti dinner. Dinner with the grandkids is my favorite activity. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and every other Saturday dinners are the “grand” times. One of the favorite dinner time conversations is when Caleb or Charlotte ask us their favorite question “would you rather” or Caleb likes to ask questions like tonight’s, “If you could bring back any extinct sea creature, what would it be.”

As you may imagine, Grandpa could answer that. Heck, I don’t know which sea creatures are extinct. Then we got a schooling on pterodactyls not being dinosaurs, they are birds. That was also a courtesy of Caleb.

Charlotte’s question for me and grandpa tonight was “How do you know if there is one or multiple sharks in the water.” I said I’d count their fins. Charlotte then went on to say, “The fins could be tricks by other swimmers.” She suggested we get up close and touch the fin to see if it was real. I told her that wasn’t going to happen. Grandpa was with me on that response.

Dinner is fun.

Megan does about 95% of the cooking for our evening meals. She plans, shops, and cooks. Many nights she will also clean up after dinner, though Joe and I try to help as often as she will let us.

My find at the Thrift store today is pictured below. We have avoided unpacking our plates and are using paper bowls and paper plates to minimize dishes to wash in the bathroom. When I came across the bowls, I decided to buy them ($4.25 for a set of 6) because (1) I love them and (2) Joe will take the bowls upstairs to wash in the kitchen sink. 

Halloween Fun and Busy Wednesday!

It had been many years since I drove in snow and ice. Yesterday, I drove to Maple Grove for our weekly grocery shopping and got to test my skills. I am so grateful that Joe insisted we have snow tires for the winter as it made the drive less anxiety provoking. We made it safely there and by the time we returned home a few hours later the roads were cleared.

Joe and Jeremy were able to finish picking up the hutch to the $240.00 dining room table, chairs, and hutch set we bought at the thrift shop on Monday. We rented a pick-up truck from Menard’s to haul the top of the hutch. The truck rental took the price up from a little over $201 to $240.00. JOe and I appreciate Jeremy's helping to get the set down to our flat. I am very happy with this find.

Last night we sat in our driveway and greeted trick-or-treaters. I braved the cold weather for a little over an hour. Jeremy was outside for the duration and Megan joined him after dinner. The kids started coming before it got dark, so Jeremy ate his dinner in the driveway between groups of kids.

Megan had set up her firepit and some of the parents and a few kids used the opportunity to warm up before heading to the next house. Megan also had ingredients out for making s’mores. Okay, I ate more s’mores than the other folks.

Another fun feature was the sensory boxes Megan had used for her Brownie troops recent Halloween party (which she also turned into a badge opportunity for the girls – learning about the 5 senses). The kids could reach into holes cut into the front of boxes and feel eyeballs, worms, and other yucky substances. Megan assured me the eyeballs were just peeled grapes. We heard a lot of “YUCK!”

It was fun to watch the littles in their costumes. The older kids were respectful and were having loads of fun being with their friends instead of parents.

Photos from our Halloween evening:

Megan and Jeremy's Driveway Set-up

The pumpkins we decorated last weekend! Mine is hard to see because I painted it. 

Jeremy's pumpkin is next to mine, Megan's racoon, Caleb's pumpkin, and finally Charlotte's.

                   Charlotte as Evie (A Pokemon character) and Caleb as an executioner.

Today, I volunteered again in the sorting area at the thrift shop. I met more volunteers and saw two of the volunteers from Monday. Everyone I have met has been very friendly. Minnesota friendly is a thing, you know. This crew asked me a lot of questions about our move to Minnesota. We had a “Christmas items” training session today for sorting, pricing, and distributing to the proper temporary storage bins to then be sent up to the store floor. We started the actual sorting; however, we had to go back to sorting clothing after we discovered the store was not yet ready for Christmas as they decided to mark everything for Halloween down to half off the already low prices.

After I got home, I had a fun video chat with my cousin, Eleanor. She has an Android and I have an iPhone. She is not on Facebook so we couldn’t use Mesenger. Fortunately, Eleanor figured out how to turn a phone call into a video call from her phone. She just got back from visiting her son in Kansas, so we had lots to chat about. Eleanor is the oldest grandchild of the Hudkins clan after our cousin Bob’s passing earlier this week. She was born seven months after Bob. Charlotte came home from school while Eleanor and I were chatting, so I got to introduce her to Charlotte. Charlotte is generally reluctant to talk to people when she first meets them, but she seemed to be fine with meeting Eleanor via the telephone. Charlotte told Eleanor that she looked like one of her grandmas. And she wasn’t talking about me…

Charlotte came back to see me after I had finished talking with Eleanor. She told me, “Megan is busy and told me to bring my reading down to you.” She sat down at the “new to us” dining room table and read to me. She did a good job, including reading with inflection. We practiced answeering the questions for comprehension on the back of her reading paper and she had them all right.

She stuck around after the reading, and we played some “make believe.” This is where she tells me pretend stories and I ask her questions. Today she told me she was going to teleport to Mars. Then she goes into a little under-the-stairs area that is separated by a curtain. When she came out, I asked her how the trip to Mars went and she told me that she ended up in a dog’s brain. She said the dog wasn’t happy that she was in his brain.

Now she is playing checkers with Grandpa and drinking a berry lemonade ICE. This is the best reason to have a dining room table again!

My first social security check arrived today! I was so relieved when my application was approved yesterday. I had convinced myself that the woman assigned to my case was out on maternity leave and I was never going to get approved. Anyway, I got two months of pay in my account today.