Home Sweet Home

albeit filled with dirty laundry! Jerry is amazing! I do this Mom thing while working part-time, but Jer made it look easy while doing his usual 55hour a week job.GO JERRY!
I did loads of laundry(get it...LOADS!) and cleaning of dishes,papers,etc.  Spent a good bit if time on the phone with Mom, her nurse/doctor, the airline,and Donnie.  With a blizzard moving in, and approval from the Doctor to fly, we got Mom's flight changed to tonight. Donnie got her last minute things done(bank,phone calls,food to Sue) and then he and Earl dropped her at the airport. We were worried when the flight didn't take off on time, but finally it rose and flew south. As Sooz said "fly Pat Fly"!  Mr. Bickelhaupt was ready to fetch her whenever, and I am so happy she is off to a warm spot! I think this will help her recovery alot.
Charlotte has spirit week and today she wore PJs to school, which she thought was awesome. Danny has catholic schools week, so he has a couple of dress downs this week as well. Though I have a feeling we'll all be dressed down in our PJ's on Wednesday due to the weather.
My head is jerking up and down from sleep, Good night!

Sunday January 30 On the Road!

Well I'm on the road again! Took off at 6am from Toms River (Liberty Gas station just next to parkway entrance has a Dunkin!) Some ice in PA (saw some bad accidents on the other side of the highway) was challenging, but for the most part the road was clear and the driving great. I know my guardian angel was with me on both legs of the trip. I got home at about 4:30, and the girls were very happy to see me, and I them! Danny was out with the Arbors, snowboarding,swimming and eating Mexican food. Lucky Boy.
Donnie arrived at Moms at 9:30 am and spent the day keeping her company and helping her finish up and get ready for her trip. and YAY, he will watch the creepy nun movie with her!

Last day in Jersey

Visiting nurse came this morning and did her assessment, more to follow on Monday, but basically a good report. Mom did great in the shower, and more scabbing is coming off, so she looks better every day! Susan is coming this afternoon, and she'll leave tomorrow morning too. Donnie will come and stay with her until Wed. when he takes her to the airport for her trip!
Jerry and the Pink Panthers are at their tourney, hope it goes well.
Danny at his game, they are still looking for that first win!
Danny did get his report card, straight A's and all 1's--GO DANNY!
Susan stopped down, and we went to church together. It's amazing, the three of us praying together at 5:30 pm., exactly 1 week to the hour that we were gathered around Mom's hospital bed. GOD is good! Mom is so healthy, it's almost like she had a rest cure in the hospital! I just felt the hand of GOD on us in church, and am filled with praise and gratitude.

Friday January 28th

Today Mom seemed to be feeling much better. After many phone calls we finally had a visit from a nurse this afternoon. Mom's BP is still low, so we will continue to follow that. I ran some errands for Mom, library,food store, and finally was able to buy a pizza. It was awesome, meatball and tomato with garlic! oh yeah! Went to bed early to rest up for my Sunday drive!

Thusday 1/27 Snow Day!

The shore really got dumped on, though not as bad as up north! We got about 6 inches of snow, and I'm glad we don't have to go anywhere. I made Mom 2 snow people to view through her den window.
We had a nice visit from Sue, and were able to share the commercial and details about Molly's adventures, which was fun. With long calls from Deb Pirrello, Mary Bickelhaupt, Aunt Janet and many more, the day flew by! We watched HGTV, the international house hunters was from Poznan, Poland! how cool!

Wednesday 1/26 Argus story out!

The story on Molly was on the front page today, so lots of fun emails and calls from her adoring fans! The story itself wasn't quite as much about SO as Jerry and I had hoped, but it was still great. No one can write as well as Jerry! Hopefully when I get home, we can go "can" outside VG's and raise some money for the Greece trip.  Mom is excited to get in the shower, and I give her the full spa treatment, shaving legs, fancy cream rubdown, pedicure..she feels like a new woman. Scabs are looking better every day and the swelling is going down significantly. Mom is a little dizzy today, which concerns me, and I spend quite a bit of time trying to find out when the home nurse is coming...you know how that goes.
I feed Mom a gourmet meal of Healthy Choice Steamer, and we watch Jane Austin's Persuasion, which we love. All told she is doing great!
Here is a link to the story!
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20110126/NEWS01/101260314/Runner-reaches-airwaves

Tuesday 1/25 She's OUT!

It took all day though...got there at 11am and we were discharged at 6:45pm! LONG DAY!
The temps had gone up, so when I brought her home it was about 32, so that was nice. She is happy to be sleeping in her own bed!

Monday 1/24 More tests....

The staff at the hospital is great, and they want to make sure Mom is okay. In addition to giving her blood and fluids, she has a cat scan of her head, and nose, xrays, EEG,blood work, urinalysis and probably more. All is coming back negative Thank GOD.
More hanging around the hospital, chatting, reading, long hours, but I am so glad to be here with her.
We hoped she'd get out today, but the eye guy and ear,nose,throat guy need to check her yet, so she's got one more night.
I go to Target and the food store, and do a few more fix-ups for Mom at the house.

Sunday 1/23 Cleaning up the Garage!

Susan had to take off for her CCD teaching job, so I set out to clean the garage. Armed with a bucket, comet(mom's favourite cleaning product!) and a scrub brush I headed out into the cold. I made myself sit on the floor to feel how cold it was, I didn't make it 2 minutes. and  I had on a coat! My gosh, how did she do it? I threw away her golf bag and cart which were soaked with blood beyond repair, and lots of other things too, to try to make it less crowded and safer. Went to Home Depot for shelves for the garage and laundry room, new door mats(old ones too bloody) and ice melt.  I also tidied up and threw out papers etc in the house, though it looked great in there compared to the garage.
Visiting hours started at 11, and Donnie and Catherine came down and brought subs and spent a couple of hours hanging out and visiting. Mom's roommate is a gal who is divorced, lives alone, and had a fall also. Cathy and her daughter, also named Cathy, are really nice, the one good thing about this hospital stay.
I get back to Mom's around 7pm and do more things...

Saturday 1/22 On The Road

GOD is with me, because you know how bad the weather could be in January. Well it is perfect the whole way, no ice,snow rain or traffic! I left at 5ish am and get to the hospital about 5:15pm. Susan had arrived about 15 minutes before me, due to all kinds of kid obligations.  We stormed Mom's room, ironically with the same items, cards from the kids, and a book for her to read! Do we know Mom and are we sisters?!!
Mom looks awful! Her face is so swollen, she is getting blood transfusions and IV, and is sore and stiff. But alive!
When we get to the house later and see the scene in the garage, we can't believe she survived. It looks like the set of NCIS, Blood in large quantities, tipped over things, a crime scene.  From what we can tell, while taking out her garbage at around 8pm., she fell left off her step, got trapped between and under her car, the golf bag and metal carrying cart fell on top of her, slicing her head open, and there she was. The light in the garage was off, and it was about 20 degrees out. She lay on the cement floor for hours, and tryed to figure out which way the door was, as she got colder and lost more blood. She doesn't know if she passed out or not but she certainly was in shock. She said she thought she was going to die, but didn't want us kids to be "embarrassed" that they found her frozen in the garage. Oh my. We told her we wouldn't be embarrassed, but if that's what got her out, then great! She finally found the door and crawled into the house at 2am, and pulled the blanket off the bed in the guest room and lay on the floor for an hour while she gathered her strength. Then she crawled into her room and into her bed. When asked why she didn't call 911 at that point she said she was just so cold she couldn't think.
In the morning she realized she needed to go to the hospital, but still did things like start a load of was with her bloody clothes, call the neighbors to tell them not to worry when the ambulance arrived, it was no big deal, and leave a breezy "nothing to worry about" message on Susan's home phone. No call to anyone's cells, COME ON MOM! Really?
But we decided that yelling at her would be counter productive....We are happy and incredulous that she is alive, What A Strong Woman!

Friday January 21

Lots of snow but still lots of  folks at Mother Goose Cafe!  It is a busy day, but my helper Molly, who came along in lieu of school, makes it go alot smoother! She did a great job helping set up the room, doing all the dances, etc. and I ran her home at about 1pm. Got a call from Sooz that Mom had left her a message that she was going to the emergency room, and Sooz said she'd call later when she had details. Yikes! By the time I get home at 5:30, I've decided that I am heading to NJ in the morning and I fuel up, money up, pack up, and get ready to leave.

Science Project Central!

From 7am til 9pm we are crunching through the Science project, due tomorrow.  Danny did do alot of planning, but somehow there was more to do, I know how that feels. That's probably why all the stuff from my kitchen ends up in a laundry basket in my bedroom when company is coming!  Danny's project, which he chose, was to invent an animal, and then describe it's home, habitat, food,defense, etc.  His animal is the size of a squirrel and is called a Black Masker. I'll post a photo soon, it is really cute.
Today Molly,Jerry and I were interviewed by the Brighton paper for a story about the commercial and Special Olympics. If it ends up published I'll post a link.
BED for me, reading a great mystery and it's calling me.....

wednesday 1/19/11 Ashley Court Joy!

This morning I couldn't remember if it was my week at AC, so I went to Church, prayed, got the Holy Eucharist and headed over. When I arrived I found out it was Maryjo's week, but when I called her she said she was feeling dizzy and thinking about calling to say she couldn't come...so GOD is good. I was there for a reason, that's for sure.  Many of the folks are sick, they had signs on the front doors of the buildings saying "Enter at your own Risk" oh my! But the service was good, and we talked over John the Baptist, and how he waited  for so long for Jesus to come and begin his ministry, and then he was only around for a few years. But he didn't question GOD, just kept his vigil. Hmm Kerry, a lesson here for you?!
I also had my library duty, school pick-up x2, meeting with Danny's math teacher, bball practice and parent/student play meeting! Allrighty!
Jer came home in front of a storm that was getting ready to hit Columbus, and was home to tuck people in, which was great.
The play is a well=oiled machine,and it should be interesting to be involved. I'll keep you posted!

Book Club at last!

Yay! I was getting nervous as they talked about black ice this afternoon, but Charlotte tackled the driveway with her shovel, I salted, and then a plow went by! So we were all set. Unfortunately, no Donna,Karen or Renee, but Shawne,Patty,Rhonda,Cindy and I talked the book (Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman) and we voted it a great one. Rhonda had chosen it so that we wouldn't be too depressed over the holidays, and she was right on. Great funny discussion and great times with my friends. Next months book is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I've read it, but it was quite a while ago, and I look forward to reading it again. The girls went to the BHS boys bball game, and then to chorale. Poor Danny basically did homework for the whole afternoon/evening. Ridiculous! I'll have to talk to the teacher about what is going on over there.
Charlotte and I worked in the cafe. together which was fun, and I took her out for a cappuccino that i owed her. Made a killer batch of pasta fagioli and served it to my family and the family that I was cooking for from school. My kids loved it! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for D-man.

I have a Dream!

As I said to the kids this morning(with no disrespect to Dr. King)
"I have a dream, that someday my children will clean their rooms, that someday we will live in a world where my children ask what they can do to help, where they don't have a fit because someone chomps their carrots too loudly, that homework will be done, YES, I have a Dream!!!!"
They thought it was pretty hilarious!  I ran down to IKEA this am, got there right at opening as I planned, and was out by 11:15, as the place started to fill. Got my shelving unit, bench and rug for my mudroom set-up, along with a few other goodies. I put them all together myself, with a bit of help from Danny, and have it all set up. The true test of its effectiveness will come tomorrow when the kids are all coming and going.
Molly and Charlotte both ran outside when they got home from up north, GO GIRLS! Danny worked on the science project due Friday.

Danny and Jerry went down to the auto show together and really had fun. Danny couldn't believe the prices on the luxury cars(207,000 for example!) "one didn't even have a price on it," he told me, and I said, "if you have to ask...you can't afford it!"

Friends, you gotta have friends....

I am blessed with friends, and they sure make life good.  I went to 8am mass and sat with my friend Nancy and her husband Hank. We chatted a bit before mass and that really started my day off great. I was blessed to be a Eucharistic minister, center host with Father Karl.  I shopped for my ingredients for my food donations to the Loaves and Fishes dinner then came home and made sloppy Joe's and Putin potatoes. They have plenty of helpers so I thought I'd take a ride to Ikea to get a small bench for the hall. As I was getting ready to go, my friend Karen called to see if I wanted to see a movie. Friend time vs. Shopping? no question, friends win! We opted for the Hincka theatre, which has free coffee and has the unique "pause to pee" function that most theatres don't offer! We watched George Clooney in Up in the Air, and it was excellent.  Spent some time right here, catching up on my blog(thankfully the blog police seem to be off my trail!) and watching the Golden Globes in the background. I don't like Sandra Bullocks new bangs. Off to bed with my cocoa. Good night :)

Saturday January 15 Shamrock Basketball!

No sleeping in this Saturday! Molly and I are at Fantastic Sams for the haircut sale at 8:10! Go us! The stylist is very nice to Molly and gives her a great was h and trim. Play Ball!  Danny has a game at 10:15, and we enjoy watching the team work.  He and the team did a great job and were in the game the whole time. Unfortunately they lost by 3 points.  Jerry and the kids take off for the lake, and I take off for home to get started on my floor cleaning. It takes a couple of hours but boy it looks nice! and with no kids home, it stays nice!  Shawne and I hit Kohls for a couple of hours and she gets some cute sweaters. home by 7, and relaxing and laundrying, not mutually exclusive, I promise!

Friday January 14

My work day! It's just Sherrie and I so we have a quiet, efficient day.  Mother Goose cafe had 65 participants and we danced and hollered our heads off.  Dr. Johnson commented to me that she could here us hollering all the way back to her office.  I had alot of fun! Did splurge and stop at DD for coffee and a muffin!  Shawne and I went to see Black Swan at 7:30.  I had heard it was creepy and weird and it was! The dancing was beautiful and the acting superb, Barbara Hershey was soo good as the overbearing stage Mom(I could relate)but super creeeeepy! I am trying to see all the movies which are nominated for best picture and I'm trying to guess and get a head start.

Thursday January 13

Well the good news for the kids is that I've finally used up the giant ham that I bought! Not only did we have ham, but we had lunch's, breakfast sandwichs, soup and a casserole. The magnetic recipe report card they gave me for Christmas has been fun to fill out, I've gotten straight A's once!  I did a bit of shopping for the boys, Jer is hoping to see Hank this weekend and pass along the things. SO Bball for the kids and Coach Jerry, and I head off to a meeting at the library. The ARC sponsored it and it was called Rethinking Guardianship. Wow, a ton of great information and I am certainly rethinking! 3 hours of nonstop info gives you alot to think and take in. Jerry and I will have to sit down and think about how to set all this up for the girls and I better get on it. If you have to take away a person's civil rights in order to become their guardian, that is something we certainly wouldn't want to do that without alot of thought.

Wednesday January 12

Jerry's companies European CEO's are in town, so he heads to the office and hosts a dinner at Polish Village Cafe. It  gets great reviews, but the guys say that the food, though polish, is served in American size portions!
The girls have the first meeting of a social skills group called Aspire, being run by Pam Holloway Charlotte's preschool teacher! I hope it will be a great learning opportunity for them. Danny had bball practice, so it was little bit hairy, but we got through it!

Tuesday January 11 BINGO!

Oh man, I need to liven up my Tuesdays, cause everyone is already bored with my tales of driving all around town all day long. Boring to me, boring to you!,  My friend Kim's daughter Katie and I did go over to Ashley Court and help out with the Tuesday BINGO game, super FUN! The snow has begun,but it's going to end by midnight, so no chance for a snow day.  I checked in with the book club gals and we decided to postpone book club til next week.  Jerry took the kids to the girls bball game at the highschool and then dropped Mol off at Chorale. So suddenly I'm quietly sitting in front of the fire with a bowl of soup as the snow falls.  Peaceful!   And to top it all off my 2 shows are on and they are new! Man, the Good Wife keeps getting better and better.

It's Monday again? That went fast!

I attended a meeting to get set up for the school book sale, and volunteered to do the guessing jar, some staffing, and a couple of warehouse runs during sale week. I like the gals who run it, so it should be fun! Remind me of this in March if you catch me whining!  Not a super productive Monday for me, and I can't come up with an excuse! So I won't even try.
Worked tonight at my knitting program. 6 gals came out, and we enjoyed ourselves. Danny had practice, the girls worked out, and everyone enjoyed the ham casserole(and only one more meal to go, split pea soup is on tap for later in the week.
Molly gave Jen Fiske a call to chat about Oregon football and I got to say Hi to her too. She was happy to hear from us, and so sweet to Molly on the phone, what a totally nice person.

Sunday 1/9/11 Molly is "basking"!

Oh what fun to see Molly joyfully talking to all her friends at church about her commercial! She is so proud, and she should be! She did an amazing job, worked like a trooper, up early, to bed late, NO SPORTS for 4 days! Can you imagine?!  Jerry went over around 10:30 to pick up Molly and they stopped down at the coffee/donuts in McCann Hall.  Apparently word was getting around, and our favourite guy, Joe Trudeau, who hadn't even seen the spot, was holding forth on the spot,Molly,our family, etc. waving his big beefy arms and excitedly telling everyone in earshot about how great Molly is!  What strikes us is the love we feel from everyone at our church. How blessed we are! They have known Molly for a long time, and all are so happy to see her have such and exciting thing happen to her.
Molly and Jerry head off to the U of M BBall game, which according to their tickets starts at 1:30. Alas, when they get to Chrysler, the game starts at 4:30! So they watch the women's game, go out for a coke,go back for the men's game, which goes into overtime, and finally roll in about 8:15! What a day!
Danny heads to a BBall game in Farmington where they get trounced by 5th/6th grade team. Hopefully it was a good workout and learning experience.

Saturday 1/8/11 Movie Night

Tonight is the big night! We have Stewarts Arbors and Wisbiski's coming over tonight for a pizza party and viewing.  We are pretty jazzed.  Danny and I head out to Howell to visit the mobile Library of Congress exhibit.  There is alot to see and we spend a couple of hours learning that the LOC has the first Bible to be printed with moveable printing blocks, the first map on which America appeared, some of Edison's first moving pictures, as well as art, entertainment, books, music, etc. WOW!  We grab our sleds and head to Maltby for an hour of fun with some of the Fairway Trails gang, then home. Danny's best bud Ryan comes over and they hike, play outside and in, go to church and then play and hang out til the rest of the company arrives. The wine and pizza flow and the kids play apples to apples, and then suddenly its time for the movie. It was actually a great show, and the commercials by Wal-mart, with their trivia games and family focus, keep us entertained. At 9:20pm the spot comes on, and the sixty second one is so great! Everyone likes it, and that makes me feel great. As soon as the spot is over the phone starts ringing..Davanzo's, Cooneys, Meg, Hank, they all love it!  SWEET!

Friday 1/7/11 First Mother Goose of '11

It is great to take a break and then come back refreshed. That is exactly what I did, and today kicked off the first storytime of '11.  I had about 65 folks join me, and we had a blast! We read a book about frogs with sniffles, and ended up doing the "Dance of the Tissue Box Fairies" like they do in the book.  Jerry made our day(Roseanne and me) by dropping off a DunkinDonuts coffee and muffin for us! Thanks Jerry!  After work I just hung out at home, pretending to tidy the house, while Jer took everyone to BBall and out to Leos for a treat. AAAH, peace and quiet!

thursday 1/6/11 The response!

Well Jerry and I had trouble focusing today...the emails and calls came pouring in about Molly's commercial, everyone was so happy and excited for her. Jerry's brother John's wife Dina saw it while watching the awards show, as did Jamie's ex-wife LeeAnne, a gal from the library, and a couple of folks from school.  It is pretty cool to have people talking about ti after keeping quiet for so long. I really can't believe that Molly kept it a secret, I'll never forget when she and Jake and I brought the surprise bicycle home for Jerry's birthday and Molly went into the house and said "I can't tell you about the bike Dad"!  Jake was so mad at her!
Jerry and the kids went to SO basketball and they got lots of acclaim there as well.  Molly is being called a movie star by her peeps! Cute!

OMG- I hate awards shows!

8:45 pm-We got a message that the Molly 30 sec. spot would be airing for the first time tonight during the People's Choice Awards....so we had to tune in from 9-11 and it aired at 10:55pm. UGH! We had to "visit" with the Kardashians, the cast of twilight, and Queen Latifa for hours! SOO boring and painful.  What was funny was we started running around to do things during the show, then running back to see the commercials! We didn't want to miss it, and then there she was!She looks so beautiful!  I did the voice-over, and was told that I could do it for a job. What did you think?  The commercial is supposed to air again on 1/8/11, during a Wal-mart movie night, when I have details, I'll be sure to share them.  So I guess it is public knowledge now and we can tell people if we want...It was surreal to see Molly running on our TV.
Earlier today I volunteered at Ashley Court. The folks were very agitated and things took much longer than usual. I ended up having to cancel my coffe/walk with Karen  :{  I hope to catch up with her tomorrow. I also volunteered at Danny's school library, picked up Charlotte and Danny from school, and picked up the late shift at Brighton District Library. I got a chance to talk to the director about the direction that BDL is heading in, so that was super interesting. My title will be program specialist, not youth services assistant, and she also talked about working across departments, which I love.

Tuesday 1/4/11

Snow flurries in Michigan this morning, and temps to stay below 25 degrees, that's the weather we know and love(?) here!  I am working in the cafeteria today at Danny's school, which I do 2xmonth. I like to watch Charlotte work, she has been doing this for 3 years now, and is so efficient.  I am very proud of her.  Delivered a dinner to my friend Kim and picked up numbers 8 and 9 in my series from the library. Normal family junk took up the rest of the day, I forgive you for feeling bored!
Charlotte did try out for the play, and I am so proud of her for trying.  Claire called to talk it over with her and she was tickled by that!  Good Wife is not on, so early to bed with my book...not so bad!

Go Me!

Hit the ground running on the first Monday in the new year.  I'm pulling out my favourite cheer..."GO ME"!  Try it, it really helps you stay positive.  Returned stuff to many stores, including the gross repackaged Snuggi from Bed,bath and beyond.  Poor Charlotte was so mad that Molly got a snuggi for Christmas, then so happy when she found one, in purple, to buy with her own money, then so mad when she brought it home and we took it out of the box and obviously someone with  a cat had had it at their house, then returned it, and BBand B didn't check it before putting it back on the floor...EEEEWWWWW! Happy ending when I later used my Kohls cash to pick up one for Charlotte( Smurfs!) and one for Danny(monkeys!) and now they can all snuggi away the winter in true baked couch potato style. I'll have to take a group photo and add it later. Got my new calendar at Borders for 50% off, but accidentally hit the book sale too, and $3.99'd my way into the big spending area.  OOps! That's why Jerry has always said he is happy I work at the library and not a bookstore.  I bring a ton home, but it's free, and I return it!
Also had some Greece paperwork to send out, doctor's apmnt with Charlotte, bball practice with Danny, so along with laundry and some bathroom tidying the day just flew by!
My Mom called me with her Doctor's apmnt report, a shock in and of itself. The report was excellent! Not only did Mom negotiate a reduced rate from the doc, since she doesn't take Mom's plan, but the doctor said Mom looked great, called her one of her success stories, said her arm measured the same as it did 5 years ago, and gave her the name of a lymphodema guy from NYC who is now in Long Branch,NJ.  Most importantly, Mom seemed so happy when she called me...it was almost like a therapy apmnt for her, the doctor's enthusiasm really rubbed off.   Unfortunately she had nothing good to offer on Mom's  hand problem, said that short of a nerve/muscle transplant, which has questionable results, there is nothing she can do.  So hopefully we can continue to investigate, in the meantime I'm thanking GOD for her great overall report and her happy mental state!
Charlotte is going to try out for the musical at BHS tomorrow. Heaven knows what will happen, with 2700 students she is bound to have alot of competition, and I don't know how she'll do with the singing on command on her own.  I wish she could have a teeny tiny part just to experience it, but I really doubt this will happen.  Gave her a talk about how great it is just to try, which I hope she is able to go through and do...
My niece Claire is auditioning out in NJ this week, and since this is her swan song at Parsippany High School, I hope she gets a great leading roll.  She is also singing for a spot in the regional chorus, and different scholarships at the colleges she has applied to, so lots of pressure. Claire seems to handle this all with aplomb, she takes after me!!??

The end of a great break

zero travel, no visitors, but still, it was a nice break.  We had fun with friends that is for sure, and spent lots of time together.  Those are great things to have done so I can't complain.
Went to 8am Mass so the kids could "practice" getting out of bed again!  Great sermon on satan in the world by Father Mark. Take away-call on our guardian angels daily, which I will.
The kids helped undecorate the tree, which was great, and now all decor is in the basement, and almost all on the shelves.  I hope to finish up tomorrow.  Danny and Scott were on the trampoline again, though today it was 20 degrees, so the jumping session lasted a much shorter time. We changed our dinner plans to accommodate Scott, Kim needs us and we are here for her( as I explained to the girls, they were not happy to not be going out, but hopefully they see the example of helping friends in need).
After showers for all, we ended the night with an all family viewing of Danny's new veggie tales movie  Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella.  It was as hilarious as ever, incorporating the times(while tied up and in danger one character emails a photo to the other one and texts for help!) and great lessons.  The main one was, If you are doing the right thing, GOD smiles on you and protects you from humiliation and harm.  I love that!
So plans for tomorrow include smiling alot, remembering that GOD is smiling at me, and telling satan to get lost whenever he tries to make me feel guilty,lazy,chubby, a bad mommy or other stuff like that.  Oh, and taking a walk with Karen!

Happy New Year 2011

Watching the Rose Parade

Jack,Danny and Scott  jumping in the new year!

Well our snow is gone as we wake up to 2011, and we end up with temps in the 50's!  January 1 in Michigan and Danny and pals are on the trampoline!  Wow!  The big take down of decorations takes me most of the day, and it is kinda sad to see it all go into boxes for a whole year.  The girls and Jerry spend the entire day watching football, and Danny playing with friends. I force myself to stay away from the big 50% off sale at Sally's...I don't really need anything, so my time is better spent purging my own closets rather than filling them with even more!
Did you make any resolutions?  My usuals are in play again this year, No Yelling( I also give this up for lent!),
more time with my friends, lots of hugging (watch out!) and less complaining(at least out loud!) I'll let you know how I'm doing. Good Luck with yours!

12/31/10 New Years semi-rockin EVE!

Well, the last day of 2010 and it is pouring rain here in Michigan. Not snow, rain!  Danny and I hang out and read and Jer and the girls go for a run.  When they get home, they are soaked, and they say to me "hey, we kept looking for the van to come and pick us when it started to pour!"  Ooops! Never crossed my mind, I'm so mean.  I took Danny over to Rolleramma at 12:45pm for the afternoon New Years skate.  They dropped a bunch of prize filled balloons onto the rink at 3pm, which was cute. Shawne and her kids, and her friend from college Theresa and her 2 girls, Samantha, freshman and Jackie, 7th grade, met us there.  Danny basically never left the rink, he skated his head off.  I;m getting old, because after an hour my ears were killing me from the pounding skate music! Old lady!  We invited everyone back to our house to ring in the New Year, and when I got home, Jer and the girls had set out a beautiful buffet on the table. We had everything form all parties out to be eaten, from cheeseballs and venison sausage to pizza and chocolate dipped animal crackers! Add a crockpot full of pulled pork and Theresa's gift basket goodies (caviar,Toblerone dark,greek olives) and we were ready to party! The kids disappeared downstairs to play roundrobin pingpong, Harry Potter Trvia, crafts and Wii, and Shawne, Jerry,Thersa and I enjoyed a great game of Scrabble in front of the fireplace.  For those keeping track, Theresa was in the lead and Jer snuck in at the last minute and won! It was Shawne's first time playing Scrabble, and I have no excuse!  We rang in 2011 in the Sandwich Islands, which put it at 9pm Michigan time, perfect!  I had set out wine glasses and sparkling juices and we poured a toast for everyone...and Danny  and Jack handled the ball drop from the top of the stairs, and we counted down...and then they dropped cottonballs! It was so much fun. Everyone left by 10pm, and though Charlotte went to bed, the rest of us stayed up til midnight and watched the ball drop in time square.  And yes, we did run outside with our pots and spoons and clang up a storm and yelled "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"