In An Instant

 In an instant.  I had met Debbie in the 1980's when we each had a child playing beginner soccer. I felt like I knew her because we were so much the same. She wrote a weekly newspaper column in our smalltown news titled 4 under 6. The oldest of her four, the lovely Laura, would sit on the field and pick weed flowers. One day Laura started a low temp and didn't feel very good. She gave her some Tylenol, put her to bed and got up to check on her. Laura had vomited and aspirated. Debbie grabbed her and drove one block to the hospital, but it was too late. 

She gathered her strength in that dark time. She was fairly new to the community, her Jewish faith had set her apart in this very Christian area. She ended her column. A year later she had her fifth child. 

Debbie's children flourished and became outstanding scholars. Leaving our community for Ivy League schools, living and working in exotic places like Chili and Russia. They are all married now, living in all four corners of the United States. 

When they left for college, Debbie accepted a position of English Teacher and Newspaper Advisor at our local high school, inspiring and empowering another generation. She retired recently and started another newspaper column in our on-line paper - A View from the Kitchen. She shared how she does weekly storytime via zoom with all her young grandchildren. 

In late January she wrote her last column. A week later she told the editor she was ill and her children were coming to visit and she would be unable to write her column for February 5. That was the day of her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She died on February 15, ten days later.  In an instant. 

We woke to another snow and ice storm on Sunday. This is beginning to be a habit. Some enjoyed it more than others. 

This week's recipe in my goddaughter's recipe challenge contest was Sausage and Tortellini.  I had the ingredients and made it for my husband. 

Then I added the remainder of the chicken broth and heavy cream and turned it into soup for me. 

The person working in our charity office woke up with the flu yesterday so I spent an extra day in the office while Mr. Merry chauffeured elementary basketball players to practices on snow covered roads.  Here was my view. 

Three clients came to see me and two people phoned to make sure I was in the office, but never showed up. 

One of the clients lives outside our area. She arrived in tears and I spent a lot of time finding resources in her area. She has a job interview on Thursday and I asked if I could call her in the afternoon (from the office, not my personal phone) and see how it went. It is people like her that make me feel I am doing something even when I am doing nothing. 

Reporting backwards I was able to watch my grandson swim in district meets from the comfort of my recliner for the price of an $8 online ticket. The roads were ice that evening, too. He did not progress to state this year, but did very well especially considering he started the year with a rotator cuff injury and had two bouts of norovirus during the season. He won his heat so that was pretty exciting. 

We are running on a theme here. Our city's schools are open today so we did put one on the bus.  My way out in the country grandson's school is closed so they went to their nana's. My other local grandkid's mom is a teacher and all their schools are closed. We had another night of rain freezing into ice and then a few inches of snow on top it. I was surprised any school buses could get on the road this morning after the multiple semis reported in ditches last night. 

No grandchildren has meant I have spent my morning on the phone.  Somehow our local medical center who also owns our doctor and lab decided to change our insurance to our supplemental instead of Medicare. Mr Merry had a variety of tests and appointments in January and our supplemental is refusing payment because they need to be billed to Medicare first.   

Every time we check in or register, they have asked if our supplemental is our primary and I say, no - you bill Medicare first - which is actually how the system should work.  Of course the bills revealed what I thought was going on when I received them on Saturday.  I spent almost an hour on the phone with billing this morning and progressed to a supervisor.  They can "see" what happened and are trying to fix it.  But at this point we have progressed to the supervisor's supervisor and I have been waiting two hours for a call back. 

I understand that people make errors. But I am not happy that three different times that I remember I tried to clarify this when the question was asked.  And obviously they just brushed off the little old lady. I am being very polite and nice on the phone right now because I want it fixed.  But inside I am steaming.  

So I guess I will go eat a treat and get back to patiently waiting.  

Stay Warm bloggies.!!!! 

No Where to Go

It is Saturday and we have no where to go!  Last week was the final week of third grade girls basketball so little brother did not arrive at dawn and spend the morning here. No one is scheduled to visit.  Although it is currently 35 degrees and raining, in three hours it should be freezing the rain into a layer of ice and covering it with a few inches of snow.  It is noon and I am still in my pjs. 

Before I show a bunch of photos, I would like to answer a question from Mulewings about the reason no one came to my charity office this week.  It is complicated and both psychological and generational. This was not a shut off week.  Most rent payments are due on the 1st, so the first week is when families receive eviction notices if they haven't paid the previous month.  Utility bills begin to arrive the second week, but shut off dates are the third or fourth week.  Many low income households are not as concerned as, let's just say you and me. They have this hope and more of an assumption that something will happen or someone will step in until the last minute when no one does.  There is a name for this that we learned at a conference a decade or more ago but there it is. Last week we had sixteen applications and we will probably have that next week too.  

Another factor is February is income tax returns. People let bills get behind in anticipation of paying them with their tax return. They also borrow against the return to pay bills, losing up to 25% in fees. It is disheartening.  

So anyway - Valentine's Day Dinner! 

I went into the kitchen to wash potatoes to make twice baked.  Fortunately I was getting the ingredients out of the refrigerator first because I discovered the Parmesan and Truffle heart shaped ravioli that I had purchased two weeks ago and had forgotten about.  I think it was under $4 at Aldi and it was sensational! I will watch for it again next year. The ravioli was bright red, but faded to a nice pink in cooking. 

Two Porterhouse steaks, the first steaks from our beef quarter purchased last month and served on our "wedding china", free place settings with each $20 deposit during 1973.  I had 12, but have been finding more at thrift shops in the area as people clean out their parent's cupboards.  I used them once at my house for a potluck for my husbands family. They were shocked at "good china" for a meal like that. I have over 30 of the dinner plates so I am good to go. 

Chocolate Lava Cakes for dessert. A two pack was under $5 at Trader Joe's and you just pull them out of the freezer, put them on parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes.  I will be watching for these next year too. 

Two more Trader Joe's plugs.  I picked this up at Christmas and we loved the bread. I bought more boxes this week (not many left!) and made cake donuts. Fabulous! 

This expires this month. I hate to buy heavy cream which is so expensive in a large container. And the large container at Aldi is the same price as a small container at IGA (we don't have a lot of grocery store choices in a small town).  We asked and it is "seasonal" and comes out in October. So watch for it. It is juice box sized. 

To fill up the rest of the blog today I am posting photos from my little grasshoppers. I have taught my daughters well, LOL.  Here a snapshot from a video of my youngest daughter's Super Bowl party for her husband and two young children. She has learned that everything is an excuse for a celebration even if it is just your family of four! 

And here was her Valentine's post. Christopher is her Valentine, lol. 

My oldest daughter volunteered herself for some kind of scholastic banquet. Here is her decorated lobby for the kids and parents. (It was a huge event, over 100 people and catered). 

She is pretty amazing at planning events and more at following through! She organizes (or threatens) help and volunteers, seeks donors and is a master at what she does. I remember when her 3 were in grade school and she lead an effort to get chrome books for every second grader. It took her a month. She does all this while (at that time) working on her Phd and working fulltime as a nurse with three small children. Now she is a fulltime college professor, has a second job teaching at another school since she has three kids getting ready for college and is an active sports mom planning a family trip in 30 days to England for her husband's milestone birthday. I keep telling her to ask for asylum while there.  

Unfortunately for my daughters, they have inherited my party gene, my planning gene, my people person gene and my volunteer gene and my ability to never say no.  I'm sorry.  

Friday Field Trip Again

 

Yes, that is sunshine coming in through the window on this week's version of a Friday Field Trip! 

First stop, drop off water bill.  After reading the amount and a mild heart attack, Mr. Merry actually read the bill with included 10 extra days due to meter reading delays with the weather. 

On to the post office to drop off FOUR birthday cards for grandchildren in February.  The map was automatic. We know our way to the mailbox. 

A stop at Walgreens for the best price for Pepsi Zero. Mr. Merry had switched to Coke Zero due to A1C levels. Not only are his levels perfect with no medication, Mr. Skinny lost ten pounds. He has switched to Pepsi for political reasons. 

Next stop Dollar Tree for imitation lego bases. Everyone in line behind us had balloons and cards. I mentioned it to Mr. Merry and he mused that there must be a lot of people with birthdays.  I said no, it's Valentines Day and that is why you bought me roses. Then I told the amused line, he did not buy me roses, I bought them myself. We have been married almost 50 years and you learn to take care of what you want, lol. 

Our Aldi had closed Wednesday morning for a complete rearrangement of goods. We did not find it as confusing as everyone on local Facebook pages had complained about. 

Last week I accidentally picked up creamed corn at the store.  I almost kept it in case of emergency when I read that residents in Columbus had used canned creamed corn to bean some Nazis who were walking through their neighborhood (The Nazis then called the police, LOL). But my sympathy for the hungry families prevailed and I donated it to a blessing box. 

We went to the bank. 

And we went to Mr. Merry and my grandson's favorite place for lunch.  

This is the picture of all four of my February birthday grandchildren now aged, clockwise from the top left, 15, 9, 11, and 17.   They are also the four out of ten grandchildren who have experienced a broken arm, not sure if these facts are related. 

LOL -CORRECTION.  This is the four grandchildren who have had broken arms. February is not the 11 year old's birthday month.  The fourth birthday is actually the twin of the little guy in the top left corner - both are now 15. 

Mom did not have a 15 candle, so she made due with "8", "2", "1" and "4".

I sat for four and a half hours in this office yesterday without a single client. I did have a phone call from a desperate mother who told me she was coming in with an overdue utility bill so I waited the extra half hour for her.  She did not appear. 

Our office is located in what was originally the hospital for my town. A businessman purchased the building in the early 1950's when the new hospital was built and made it into offices.  His son who runs the accounting business in the building and the gym in the basement has donated the use of this office as well as his office wifi to our church organization. We salvaged the furniture from the church when they kicked us out for more room for them. 

In 1919 my grandfather was a patient at this hospital when he had his appendix removed. I have heard that the nurses had a dormitory either in the basement or in an out building. Either way, his nurse was a cute little orphan farm girl who had left her grandparents to attend a nursing school in Cleveland and come back to our town to work.  At the end of his convalescence at the hospital, he was released and the couple got on the train and rode to the end of the line (Detroit, Michigan) and rode it home to announce they had eloped. And that couple was my maternal grandparents.  I only found out this information when I was researching family history in local newspapers on microfilm.  

This was my view out my window for four and a half hours. I believe there is a new tenant. Last summer this duplex had a cute little table set with an umbrella, a different grill and planted all kinds of flowers. It just doesn't seem like the same household. 

The building is an interesting mix of businesses. There is a beauty parlor at the far, far end where the ladies room is. There are at least 3 massage therapists, one reflexology, two reiki people, and one person who does fancy facials of some kind. This group are mostly part-time or evening workers, although some have day appointments. There is an unmarked office that someone has rented to write a novel. There is another office where the biller for an anesthesia practice comes in, locks the door and does all the billing for the practice. There is an insurance agency in a suite of offices and there is an abused women's charity who is using the large sun porch (possibly as a donation, too) for their office and evening meetings.  

The massage/reiki people seem to burn a lot of incense and candles so there are some interesting smells.  They are all at least a wing away from us (and so is the ladies room) so we don't have to smell it all day. There are 3 mens rooms located closer to our office.  We are also located the furthest from the ramp entrance, but beggars can't be choosers. 

We will be enjoying our first two steaks from our beef quarter for Valentines Day and I might even make some twice stuffed potatoes. Festive foods were pretty picked over at Trader Joe's this week, but I did get two little chocolate lava cakes. If we are going to have dessert, I guess I should close and read the directions! 

Starting the Week With Another ER Post

And that is what is known as "click bait".  The ER visit is in my living room and the patient needing stitches is this guy. 

This well loved family member that you may think is a monkey had started to unravel around the corners.  

My second oldest grandson (out of 8) had received a similar monkey without the blanket as an infant. He was extremely attached to "monkey" and when his cousin (#3 out of 8) was born, he gifted a similar monkey to him.  When the cousin's baby brother (we are at #5 of the 8) was born, his mother requested a cow from the same collection. This is guy is known as "cow cow".  So. When the second granddaughter was born and received a lamb - the lamb with an attached blanket, she named hers "cow cow".  And when her baby brother was born (my 10th grandchild and 8th grandson), he received a monkey with an attached blanket whose name is also "cow cow". 

Cow Cow survived the procedure and is resting comfortably with his friend Bear. 

This afternoon is my board meeting for my charity and I have dinner in the crock pot so I am very proud of myself. 

Tonight is my Murder Mystery Monday, a True Crime Podcast Club meeting at the library and I am very excited. We had suggested crimes local to our state and this has made the meetings more interesting since we are familiar with the surroundings. 

I missed the first meeting in September. The next two months were a serial killer who traveled from Indiana to Kansas and another serial killer from Texas. Both were unsolved. We increased in number from five at the first meeting, adding 2-4 each month.

I missed December which was a prominent case in my state. I would have loved to have studied it, but it was the day we returned from the resort and my brain was not functioning.  January was an unsolved case of a young man from the Cleveland area that took place in the 1970's.  

I am way too involved in the mind games of this club and for the first meeting I attended I had made a spreadsheet of all the crime details, the victims information, the police reports and information and possible suspects. Everyone loved it so now I make copies of my notes for everyone. We had to grab another 8 foot table from the basement to make room for everyone. 

Tonight will be another case from our state which has an eerie mystery attached.  I am personally skeptical of this clue, but I bet it will get a lot of conversation.  

We have been having a big turnover at our library for reasons I don't even want to know so we are on our third moderator.  I asked if we could look at murders closer to our area and the moderator was grateful. I have put together resources for a murder that occurred very close to us when I was in junior high. I only found 2 short podcasts, but there are 3 you tube broadcasts of local newscasts looking at unsolved cases. We will see what the group thinks. 

I also put together resources on a serial killer from a county close to us. One of the victims was from our county. He has been convicted of some murders, but there are questions on others.  My concern with this one is that there are a series of rapes that go along with the violent murders and I am not sure what the library will want to do with that. The group is currently adults with 2 older teens that come with parents.  So I will leave it up to them. 

Interesting, I just checked the listing and it says "18 and over, graphic detail" in the subscription. 

And tomorrow? It is ANOTHER field trip to Trader Joe's! We were ice covered and homebound all weekend. Today is thawing and tomorrow a friend has an appointment nearby so a group is going for the ride and the stop at Trader Joe's while grampa does the preschool car pool.  And then we are expecting another storm tomorrow night.  Please Mother Nature, no more snow days!