Daddy’s memorial service was last Saturday afternoon. My sister took some pictures before the service.

This is the guest book table at the entryway.

We went together and got this large piece for the table. The lady at Reasor’s that talked with us and actually ended up making it herself, which is good because she actually is the one that helped us pick out the flowers and design the piece.

The piece we based it off of had four tapers and 4 shorter pillar candles but they were out of the pillars. We decided to put one taper for each grandchild.

Then we decided to add four short pillar candles for Mom and we three girls with our spouses. Finally I decided to grab some small battery operated tealights for the four great grandchildren.

That’s Daddy on the left and Mom and Dad at their wedding reception.

Mom suggested that we have everyone light their candle at the beginning of the service. It turned out to be a nice thing and different.

The associate pastor, John, did a great job moving things along and reading the written pieces.

I wanted people to know that first and foremost, Daddy loved God and followed after Him with all His heart, so I agreed to speak but needed to speak first. Even though I helped plan the service, I didn’t realize I’d have to endure the reading of the obituary and hearing the song that we sang to Daddy as he passed away–it also happened to be the song my mom had sung to my dad’s dad when he passed away. But I managed to pull it together and speak without much tears.

It was such a blessing to look over the assembled group and see a couple dear sweet friends sitting there smiling back at me. (Thank you Kim and Sharon; it meant so much to me.)

We had the grandkids that wanted to speak come up together, to support one another. The youngest one, my Tiffany and Brian. It blessed me so much.

After they finished, my nephew jumped up and spoke too.

Then we transitioned to the video sent by Daddy’s lifelong friend, who was our pastor for about 20 years.

Next were words from my middle sister and then Mom and Dad’s dear friends, Carl and Doris.

Their pastor spoke then.We finished up with the slideshow put to Through the Years and Daddy’s Hands. Here are some of the pictures. Angie, the lady that put it together, did an AMAZING job.

These ornaments that they are hanging are from their first Christmas tree they year they got married. They put them on every year. Daddy was being a bit mischievous this particular year.

Thanks for your understanding and patience,

Michele ºÜº

Over last weekend I just chilled and played games mostly. If I remember correctly, Sean came over for Saturday morning breakfast and made it for all of us. We decided it was best for us not to go to church Sunday, since we were at the hospital on Thursday. However Tracie’s family and Mom spent the weekend combing through photos for the slideshow for the memorial service tomorrow.

On Monday we had a busy day visiting with their pastor, making the final cut on the pictures, getting the memorial picture printed, and figuring out the flowers. Then got Mom settled back at her place.

On Tuesday my sister’s family, Tiffany, and I went over and helped Mom put up her Christmas tree. Holiday decor brightens the mood a lot. Tiffany put up the rest of our holiday decor on Thursday! I love it!

Brian, Lauren, and Liam came up. We had a nice visit Thursday evening. They got us hooked on The Mandalorian. We watch a few episodes whenever they come over. Earlier in the evening Liam got Papa to play a game on the Switch with him. So cute.

I fixed meatloaf and scalloped potatoes. It has been ages since I have fixed them this way and they did not disappoint. I did use gold potatoes and I even fixed them in the foodi. I attempted to pressure cook them twice, but it didn’t recognize the milk as liquid and said I needed more water.   Ugh! They were mostly cooked, so I set it to bake for about 15 minutes. They turned out great. Maybe if I put some milk in the bottom before I start layering the potatoes it will work better. Oh well, we shall see sometime in the future.

Lauren brought her nail stickers . . . I don’t know that they are really called that but that is what they are. Any way, I love them! They are so pretty!!! She is such a sweetie!!! She did both me and Tiffany’s nails.

Well, it’s been a long week and tomorrow is the memorial service where I have agreed to speak. I am pretty sure I can make it through. We appreciate your continued prayers!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

This week was really bad roller coaster ride; you know the kind that just tosses you all around. I had great plans for the week. I’d broken the work down that needed to be done into three days, so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed.

Then Daddy was still in the ICU. His oxygen numbers where mostly not good but he did have improvement throughout the week.

I like to have my Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving and for the last 15 years or so, we have done it on Wednesday. We also do all of our holiday dessert baking that day. This year I decided to start putting the tree up on Monday. It is a good thing too because we needed a new strand of lights and snow! Ugh!

Michael stopped and picked up both items on his way home, so we finished the tree on Tuesday. We also did half the baking.

Daddy’s oxygen levels fluctuated a bit but he still needed a lot of oxygen. On Wednesday afternoon they moved him out of ICU saying he was no longer sick enough to warrant it. However by 11pm his blood pressure plummeted to 60/40. They gave him something to bring it back up and returned him to ICU.

They started a battery of tests and before too long the doctor on duty had the nurse call me and my mother. The short version is that they were as surprised as we were but she felt we needed to be more concerned with his comfort at this point than attempting to save his life (he did have a DNR). It was bad.

I asked if we could come see him and I was told no but she’d check, maybe the policy had changed. Of course, I immediately sent out calls to people to pray, as did Tiffany. The next phone call was that they would allow us to come. He was on a bipap machine.

God worked a miracle and Michael rushed Tiffany and I to the hospital. They took us up, got us protected, and let us in to see him. It was hard. He hated the bipap! Mike and Tracie were bringing Mom and they were only a few minutes behind us. He had to hold on so they could say good-bye too.

He did! Tiff went out after telling him she loved him and loving on him a few minutes, but it was very hard to see. She’d just left the room, Daddy kept trying to take off the bipap mask, but the nurse and I convinced him not to until Momma could get there. She was just outside the door getting garbed up.

I stayed for a few minutes but then went out and Tracie’s husband came in for a few minutes. When he came back out, I went back in. Mom and Tracie were singing to him; I joined in.

I don’t remember when they took off the bipap and put back on the other oxygen–everything is a blur–they gave him lots of pain killers and you could see him beginning to relax a bit. After a song or two, Mom told him he could go be with Jesus. I told him we’d take care of Momma and not to worry about her. More quiet singing and he left.

The nurses were great!!! They gave us as much time as we needed. He passed from this life around 1:45am on Thanksgiving day morning. I’m just so very thankful that Thanksgiving isn’t always on the same day every year!

The nurses told us several times what a sweet man Daddy was. I’m thankful he had some great nurses looking after him, in a time when we couldn’t be by his side during his last days of life here.

To say our Thanksgiving was different, is an understatement! Brian, Lauren, and Liam still came up. We went over to my sister’s house in the afternoon–we just needed to be together. We each handle loss differently. Mom is currently solid as a rock, but we each had our moments of breakdown throughout the evening. At the time of this writing, he hasn’t even been gone a whole day yet; it just doesn’t seem real.

I’m going to run. It is Thanksgiving night and I am operating on about 2-3 hours of sleep. I’m ready to crash. Thank you for all the prayers; they are greatly appreciated.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

This week started with a bang! My daddy had to be hospitalized with Covid and pneumonia.

It’s been quite frustrating because nobody can go be with him. And then Momma is at home alone with Covid, so nobody can go be with her either.

Sunday we took our car over to the shop to have some work done on it Monday. We’d told the mechanic what needed to be done and he let us know when the parts arrived on Friday that he could work on it Monday. So when Momma asked me to drive Daddy to the ER, I forgot all about not having a vehicle.

So then I did the next natural thing and called Michael. He was in his work van, at work, but said he’d go do it. Then we realized that whoever took them would have to quarantine for 14 days and Thanksgiving was just 10 days away.

As I think I mentioned last week, my sister and her husband are also sick with Covid and live just 5 minutes from my parents. We would normally gather at their home on Thanksgiving but I’d made a back-up plan to have Thanksgiving dinner here for us, Sean, and Brian, Lauren, and Liam. BUT if Michael or I took my dad to the hospital, then they wouldn’t be able to come and I know Lauren and Liam are looking forward to it, as am I.

So I facetimed Tracie and was telling her my dilemma and before I even got it all out, her hubby Mike said, “I’m already quarantined, ” and proceeded to get out of bed. Bless him! He is such a servant! He chauffeured Momma and Daddy to the ER, handed Daddy off to the waiting staff there, and took Momma back home.

I’m so glad he didn’t wait any longer to go. He has pneumonia. It’s been really hard because we cannot be there with him and it is hard to stay informed this way and not be a pest to the precious nursing/care staff.

Daddy has been exceptionally weak and his oxygen levels have not been good. Please pray for him. Since he finally retired for the last time several years ago, Momma has gotten very used to him being around all the time and is really missing him.

It is also difficult because Daddy is an introvert. Add to that the fact that he is weak, so communicating with him is not easy, if even possible.

I’ve been on the phone and texted so much this week! It is draining, but I do it gladly. Momma is getting better and able to do more around the house but is really missing Daddy.

Ran errands and got a ham for Thanksgiving dinner, as that is Lauren’s preferred meat. I also got biscuit to make Bubble Bread. I got stuff to make the Jello Cookies and Cream Pie and Apple Crumble Pie. I’ll also make some chocolate chip cookies for Liam.

Usually I only do desserts for Thanksgiving but things are different this year, so I’m doing the whole shabang. (Or is it shebang? I’m too tired to figure it out right now. )

AND we have to put up the Christmas tree early next week too! Why? Because I like it up the weekend after Thanksgiving but Michael doesn’t like the mess while we are doing so. He is home Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; so then I don’t get my tree up until Monday and I don’t like that. So we’ll be putting it up earlier.

Well, I’ll run for now. I hope you have a good weekend! I appreciate your prayers for my family members and I hope to give a good report next week on their health.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Not a lot happened this week. My brother-in-law celebrated his 50th birthday at his happy place.

One day this week Tiffany got the little coffee grinder down from the cabinet and apparently it wasn’t cleaned out by the last user.

I recorded her telling me what happened. It was so funny so sad. It went everywhere. She’s a good sport though.

Lauren sent me a snap that looked like it could have been taken at Glamour Shots.

Well, I didn’t notice the sparkle dots all over it . . . I just thought the pose and beauty of her face looked like a Glamour Shots pic.

On the other hand, my son sends me silly selfies most days.It makes me smile or even laugh each time.

Lauren got some Halloween costumes on clearance for Liam to play dress-up in. He loves it.

I’m working on a pizza dough recipe that doesn’t have to sit around for hours and still be on THM plan.

And I might be a bit of a pizzaholic, because I also made Nana’s Lil Kitchen personal pizza. While I was shopping this week I found my favorite holiday tea at WinCo. Well, that’s been my week. We are praying that my parents and sister and her family get over Covid-19 quickly so it doesn’t mess up our Thanksgiving day plans. Prayers appreciated!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Tiffany and I did some Christmas shopping yesterday before running our usual errands. And OHHHHH! were we successful! I wiped out a huge chunk of my stocking stuffers. Earlier this week I was able to knock out the majority of my main gifts for everyone and they are already showing up here at the house. Gotta love online shopping.

I did buy some invisible tape yesterday. I already had some rolls of transparent tape but needed some of the invisible one. You know, you need the invisible tape on matte finish paper and transparent on shiny/foil paper. Well, I got a LOT of gift wrap on clearance after Christmas 2018 and have quite enough for this year and probably the next several years to come.

One of the stores we went to was TJ Maxx. We kept it pretty short. I had seen a black wire double fruit basket with banana hook there last year and have decided that I’m ready to break down and get it or something like it. So that is why we were there. Unfortunately they didn’t have it–not that I really expected them to have it or one like it at this late date.

We did a short run through $5 Below and I successfully got some stocking stuffers there. We spent a good long while at our larger Dollar Tree and came away with a few good finds.

At Ross, I finally found a new purse! I’d gotten one a month or so ago and although I really love it, I think it is just too fancy and too big for every day use. Today at Ross I found one that is a little bigger than my current every day purse but smaller than the others I have. I have a tendency to overfill my purse, as most ladies do. So it is important to get one small enough to not be too heavy when overloaded.

After all of that, we still had to do our normal grocery run: WinCo, Sprouts, Aldi, and Walmart. I’d ordered a bulk bag of quinoa and it was ready for pick-up. We also used up the last bit of our brown rice, so I had to get a bulk bag of that as well. Then they had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.38 a pound! I had to get a package of them even though I didn’t need any because we always use chicken breasts.

Aldi they had turkeys on sale for 87¢ a pound, so I picked up a twenty pound bird to make the day after Thanksgiving. We love turkey and at 87¢ a pound, we can eat on it for several days.

Unfortunately they were sold out of the cheese advent calendars! We got one for the first time last year and enjoyed it. We wanted another one even though they did repeat the cheeses. Lauren told me I should have Michael pick one up on Wednesday when they came out but I didn’t listen and thus, we don’t have it. I’m sure we will live without it. I’ll just have to get a little creative to make us a special advent calendar.

Well, I’m going to run for now. I hope you have a good weekend. I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing other than organizing my gifts pile and checking to see what else I need to get. As well as pestering my hubby to get his Christmas list done.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

What do you do when you aren’t feeling well? I don’t do much of anything but watch whatever show I’m loving at the time, read, and play games on my computer (and occasionally games on the Switch).

Tiffany hasn’t been feeling up to par lately either. We rewatched Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies and series. We love it soooo much that we had to purchase it.

We tried to watch a few movies and then decided to watch Sue Thomas F.B. Eye. It’s an old show; we used to watch it when it aired on PAX. We even recorded some of the episodes and have watched them many times but I’m realizing as we watch it from the beginning that there were a lot of episodes we didn’t see.

I finished reading the children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Missing. I have to admit that the last book wasn’t my favorite but I did enjoy the series and will share about it on Thursday.

I’ve started The Pawn by Steven James. I’ve had it for quite a while and kept putting off reading it but have thought that October would be a great time to read it. Well, the day after I finished The Missing I picked it up. The prologue was looking to be a bit too much for me to read before bed. It is a story about a serial killer, so you can see why I might not want to read it right before bed.

I do have to say that I am enjoying it. It’s not my normal read but it is interesting. I think my mother would enjoy it. Of course it is the first book of a series. I’m interested in how this first book is going to end and how the next book continues the story.

Well, I’m off for now. I hope you have a good weekend. I’m planning to take it easy.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

The last time we went to the pumpkin patch was probably close to a decade ago. Carmichael’s Pumpkin patch has always left me with fond memories.

Liam is at the age that I thought he’d really enjoy it. So when they come up this past weekend, we went. It was crazy busy and crazy windy!!! Because of the wind, the dirt from the parking lot was really blowing up and around. It felt like we were in the dust bowl.

Thankfully, they have things spaced out pretty good and we didn’t feel like we were in a crowd. I grabbed Liam and escorted him around. First we stopped at the pumpkins.

I’m not a very good photographer and I am way more interested in being present and forget to take pictures.

Next we went into the dark maze. I was so concerned about him getting scared that I ended up getting a little turned around and had to use my flashlight on my phone to get us out. Liam did great though.

Next up we looked at the pigs and piglets, goats and kids, and the rest of the animals.

There were even porcupines! I’d never seen a porcupine before. I always thought they were a little bit bigger than a hedgehog. So I was surprised to see how big they really are.

Then I bought us some feed to give to the animals. The trouble is that there were so many people that the animals were a bit full and thus picky about what feed they eat.

If they were nearly full they wouldn’t eat the feed but would eat the corn kernels.

Then we headed over to the camels. They were selling dixie cups of baby carrots by the camels. I was concerned that the camels wouldn’t eat them for the same reason that the other animals weren’t very interested in the feed. And I was right, the weren’t but this goat was.

They had some areas set up for picture taking. I wish we’d have gotten a picture of all of us together, but alas, I didn’t. But we did get some pictures of of Liam. I took a couple but so did Lauren and Tiffany. Tiff shared her pictures with me.

He was a bit scared to get up on top of the hay bale but did so any way.And then he got comfortable with it.

Tiff did get a picture of Sean, Brian, Lauren, and Michael while they were waiting on us.

Well, that was our fun time at the pumpkin patch. It is odd how I generally want to go there the week of fall break and this time was no different, even though it was on Saturday. Of course, the kids came up to celebrate the end of October birthdays last weekend, so we couldn’t have gone earlier in the month.

I hope you have a good weekend. Ours is going to be quiet this weekend. I think we have settled on a church. We shall see.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Tiffany and I started watching some fall movies last week. Of course, we were loving it. We thought we might try Hallmark Now to get to enjoy the movies this holiday season. So we decided to download the free trial this week to see if it would even work for us and what kinds of movies and things they had available.

We watched a few movies with a couple of them being very “B movie”-like. I decided I was done with that and wanted to see something a bit better. We decided to check out the Mysteries section. That when we saw Signed, Sealed, Delivered listed with so many shows available.

I remembered that Lauren had requested the series for Christmas several years ago, so I figured it would be good. We started watching it and absolutely loved it! I probably don’t have to tell you that we binge watched the series and ten or so movies.

I love that they are all so clean. They are fun. Tiffany and I cried several times from how touching they were. We have decided we definitely need to own this entire set, the series and the movies.

I told Lauren what we were watching and how. She said she’d gotten Hallmark Now to watch Christmas movies last year but they don’t put the Christmas movies on Hallmark Now. She told me about FrndlyTv. So now we are going to look into that to watch our Christmas movies this year.

I just don’t know if us having either of these services is a good idea. I’m so much less productive and read far less too.   Then there is the game I’ve been playing that I’m spending way too much time playing as well.

We visited another church Sunday. Turned out there were a whole 7 or 8 cars in the parking lot and once again, the majority of the attendees were older than Michael and I. Turns out the pastor has only been there for a month now and remarkably, he was the pastor of the one church we really like for 15 years, although that was probably over a decade ago now.

Well, that’s my week. If everyone is healthy this weekend, Brian, Lauren, and Liam are coming to celebrate October birthdays. We’re planning to meet up at the pumpkin patch. I’m really looking forward to it but not sure if it is going to work out. Tiffany hasn’t been feeling the best this week and neither was Lauren. So, prayers appreciated.

Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº

Wow! Another week has passed and I really don’t have much to tell. I finished the Mistborn Series last month. I really enjoyed it but definitely didn’t see the end coming, in spite of being spoiled for some bits (including the ending).

I have to say, I am glad Tiffany gave me the spoilers she did. I’m generally a person that doesn’t ever believe someone dies for good. I read a lot of sci-fi so I generally expect my characters to make a dramatic re-appearance.

I’ve also been reading the Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I’m enjoying it so far. I’m on book five but they are young adult or juvenile fiction, so they aren’t as long as those Sanderson books I read last month that had over 700 pages each. I’m reading these on my kindle and enjoying how swiftly I am getting through them.

The Missing is a time travel series with mostly 13 year olds as the main point of view. It’s been fun to discover different time periods and Haddix has really made it clear in the afterward where she took creative license and what was true. She even shared some conflicting information she found and why she chose the versions she did.

Tiffany made some pumpkin desserts the other day. It was nice to have her feeling up to baking again. It’s been a while since she has felt up to it and found desserts light enough to make. The recipes she made were from Briana Thomas’s second cookbook, Convenient Food. One was pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and the other, which was scrumptious, was pumpkin torte.

I’ve been playing my hidden object game a bit too much lately. I’m in a group/guild that is very active. I have leveled up several times in the last several weeks and prior to joining this group, I did not level up nearly that often.

I’ve been having a hard time with motivation and follow-through in doing nearly everything else . . . sad to admit.

We’ve been watching Eureka again. I love this show. It is kind of like The Andy Griffith Show but with a sciency twist. We finished watching the Stargate series. We still have a movie to watch but it’s not our favorite, so we’ve skipped it at this point.

Tiff put up our fall decor! Nothing is more hygge than the orange lights we put up under our kitchen cabinets. Maybe I can get Tiffany to take a picture or two of them. I’m not very good at pictures, so I like to let her take them.

Tiffany is dog sitting for my parents for another few days. They went to visit family and friends in Florida and then on to their happy place: Myrtle Beach where my sister and her girls joined them for a few days. Hutch is their goldendoodle and we just love him.

He cracks me up because he’ll come over and put his paw on top of my hand. It’s even funnier when he turns his head away, not looking at you. I just here “I wanna hold your hand…” in my head.

Well, that enough from me this week. I hope you have a good weekend. Hopefully Michael will get our bathroom tub finished this weekend! Oh happy day!

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº