On with our lives...

It has been a busy week.  Kristi had a party on Thursday and we helped her get ready for this. The party turned out to be a lot of fun and we had good food. I am not sure how she well she did on her party.  I think I have been at Kristi's house everyday since she moved getting ready for this party, but I hope for awhile that I will be able to stay home.

Yesterday, we had our company meeting at work and I was really busy.  I was wiped out when I got home so Alayna (who rides the bus to my house) and I went to their house to enjoy the swimming pool. For each pod of 5 buildings there is one swimming pool.  So, this makes for an empty pool most days.  There were a couple of people in the pool when we got there, but it ended up just us.  I taught Alayna how to jump off the side onto the floaty.  She had fun.  She doesn't know how to swim, but she is not scared of the water at all.  This may be an issue in the future.

Oma has been sewing in her sewing shack.  She really likes having a large place to sew.  I don't know what is going to happen if we move and she doesn't have this much space. She has been working on new covers for the rockers in her living room.

Alayna ended up staying here for 2 nights.  After Kristi's party she had a melt down and for some reason wanted to come home with me, so she did.  We read a couple of books and she wrote in her diary and then she crashed.  I think she just needed some one-on-one time with someone before she slept.  There were a lot of people in her apartment and I think that was too much for her to deal with. 

Tom is doing a lot better now that his tooth is gone. He missed two days of work one for the extraction and one for bleeding.  He still has some pain in the jaw, but not what it used to be.  I think this should get better with time.

The meaning of the word lost...

Tonight, as I sit here thinking about death and how it has again touched our family.  Today, Oma lost a grandson, I lost a nephew, Debbie lost a son-in-law, Lauri lost a husband.  Death seems to be right around the corner for our family lately, and I am ready for it to stop. When we heard that Mark was in a coma, Oma and I started talking about all the people that we have loved and lost - both family and friends. Oma kept saying "she lost so and so" and I told her all my life I have heard this term and never really understood it.  To me, the word lost means that you misplaced something - eg, I lost my keys.  It implies that you will find whatever it is that you lost, eventually.  When you use that saying in the context of death you sound like you are going to find that person again someday.  I know, in heaven we all shall meet again but only God knows when that will be.  So, why do you say "I lost my brother today" shouldn't you say that your brother passed away or my brother died today.  Lost just seems like it doesn't sound right in this context.

Anyway, AZ Fines - you are in our prayers during this difficult time.  He went way to early but take comfort in knowing that several people will live on with a part of Mark, he is living through others. 

The tooth fairy has been busy...

Well, Alayna lost another tooth last Wednesday night and the tooth fairy came to my house and left some money for her. 

About a week ago Tom started complaining about his sinus' and how much they hurt.  Well, today he finally gave in and went to the dentist.  After leaving over a $100 there - he is missing 2 teeth.  One wisdom and the one in front of the wisdom tooth.  So, tonight he is really loopy and hurting.  I hope he gets to feeling better soon.  He has been miserable.

Boy, I am tired

Today has been a busy day for us.  We finished painting Oma's living room and got her furniture moved in there.  She is so happy to have her round table and 2 rockers back. We had to rig her TV for right now until I can call dish network and have another outlet put in that room so she can put her TV where she wants it.  Right now, this will work but not where she wants it.  Oma spent about 2 hours going thought photos of the family to put on her new bookcase.  She is just happy about all the room she has.

She is almost done with her sewing shack.  I have to move 2 tables over there, one for her cutting room and one for her sewing room.  Yep, you read it right she will have a cutting room and a sewing room. She has all of her stuff over there, she just needs the tables and some help getting her machines set up since she can't lift more than 10 pounds right now.

After we go her room set up, we cleaned up the little loft area outside our bedroom (which is above the kitchen). It has been left alone for 7 years and boy we could tell it.  Then I worked on Alayna's room and then cleaned out the closet.  I had a lot fun seeing some of the stuff we had stored in that closet.  Have a lot of garage sale stuff. 

Tom is in Lathrop at his high school reunion.  I am glad that he went and hope he has fun. 

What a busy week this has been...

This last week has been a blur for our family.  I am waaaayyyyy too old for this crap!  I need a vacation!

Let me just write a little note about each day...

It all started on Saturday with Kristi finally moving out.  We were planning on starting around 10, this would give Tom time to sleep a tad since he works late at night and Kristi to get final packing done.  But, the family that was going to help us needed to start earlier because of some other commitments.  It worked out for the best.  They had the trailer and 3 trucks and Kristi's car loaded and unloaded before lunch.  They even had a little bit of time to start putting together some of the furniture that needed assembly.

After they unloaded the trucks and such we had a BBQ here for everyone.  It was really nice and we didn't have a lot of food left over.  Once we had everyone full, we had to move Oma upstairs.  This didn't take as much time as we thought it would.

After everyone else left the family (Tom, Me, Oma, Kristi, Granny, Grandpapa, Brian, Paul (Brian's friend), and Bob) all went back to her apartment to try to help make sense out of all the boxes.  You all know what I am talking about - you have been there before.  Anyway, after dinner of Long Johns Silvers, Tom and I headed home to relax!  Finally, relax.

Sunday...

We got up and cleaned a little and then Tom, Oma, and I headed to Kristi's to cook a good meal and finish what needed to be done. 

Monday...

Work, work, work.  Then in the evening I started painting Oma's living room (Alayna's old bedroom).  It was a bright purple and now it is a nice quiet shade of pink (almost looks white). I hate to paint - really, I hate to tape. Painting is not as bad as taping everything up.

Tuesday...

Work, work, work again.  Then back to more painting.

Wednesday...

Work, work, work.  Wednesday night is my night with Alayna since it is Kristi & Brian's sibling night.  On Sunday we talked about what to do with Kristi's walls and came up with the idea of her making a collage of pictures Tom has taken of flowers.  So, I went to Michaels and Target to see if I could find frames that we could afford.  We are thinking about 20 pictures - so I need CHEAP frames.  Found a lot of good deals, so this was good.

Thursday...

Work, Work, Work.  I headed back to Michaels, Wal-Mart, and Target to get a few more frames.  Wait, before I left for Michaels I went to Alayna's school with Kristi and Alayna to meet her summer school teacher, Mrs. Russo. I think Alayna will have fun.  There are 27 kids in her class and my only concern is the only bathroom is in the school.  Her class is in a trailer. She will also ride the bus to & from school.  We want to see if this will work for next year.  This way Tom can see her in the Am and I can see her in the PM.

Friday...

Work.  Notice, I only said one work that is because Tom had a half-day of vacation so I took one so we could finish painting Oma's room.  It is now almost 10 and we just finished about an hour ago.  We have pulled up most of the tape and are waiting for her "accent wall" to dry.  Tomorrow we will move her living room stuff into that room and then Tom will leave to go to Lathrop, MO for his high school reunion.  He is going with his brother since I couldn't go (Oma got her shot today and isn't suppose to be left alone for a long period of time for a couple of days). This is not just a reunion for the class of 1979 - it is a reunion for ALL grad classes.  So, Bob will see some of his grad class as well.

I plan on cleaning out the closet that used to be Alayna's and try to come up with some plan of attack for all the stuff that was left by Brian, Kristi, and Alayna.  You would not believe how full that walk-in closet is.

Sunday, we are going to go to Kristi's to hang all of her photos.  She has a open house on Thursday so we have a few things to do before then.

Empty Nest after 28 years

It only took 28 years for us to experience the empty nest syndrome - so to speak.  Kristi moved today to her own apartment.  It only took about 4 hours to load the trucks and trailer and unload them at the new apartment.  After a nice lunch, some of us headed back to her apartment to get her settled a tad.  At 8 p.m. Tom and I finally came home.  We are now watching the race and relaxing. 

While we were gone, Oma made herself right at home in her new area.  We brought over as much as she wanted us to and then she wanted to be left alone.  Her bedroom is just about done and we have to work on her living room.  We have to paint the room since it is a deep purple room.  We have a couple of test samples that we are going to paint tomorrow to see how they look before we buy the paint we need to paint the room.  Then she will have her living room done as well.  One of the things we have to do tomorrow is get Alayna's bed set-up so it will be ready when she comes over.

Hope everyone has a great week-end.