Another Tuesday

Well, in six minutes it will be a week since my last post. From what I can remember I was busy with physical therapy (now just continuing exercises on my own), working in the charity office, and lots of cooking. 

My divorced son picks his boys up in our town two nights a week. And now that spring has sprung, they have sports practices in my town and he doesn't have time to take them to his house and back in time for practice. So two nights a week they are coming here for dinner before practice. And since that is the same time my daughter picks up her two after school, we are now hosting dinner for nine every Tuesday and Thursday.  Last Thursday was spaghetti pie and tomorrow is baked chicken.  I love to cook and I especially love it when my kids and grandkids come for meals.

I have a special thank you for my friend Betsy from The Simple Life of a Queen who promoted this wonderful can holder for my trumpcession pantry. Luckily my grandson brought his tools to help assemble it. 

How is the bathroom remodeling project coming? Well, slow. But then we are old and slow so I think we are right on track. He did remove the rest of the wall tile and put up some temporary drywall. Here is a glimpse of the mirror. 

And here we are deciding placement over the cabinet (which is in my guest room). 

And here we are marking the bathroom wall so that he can make a cutout for the inset mirror cabinet. We can't remember if we had a mirror that was inset in the past . . . So we may find a surprise. 

Note, it will be higher. I am not sure how short he thinks I am as he kept asking are you going to be able to see to do your makeup? Or maybe he was insinuating that I need to wear makeup? Anyway. 

Our sneaky state government has restored the name of the fund that funds libraries in our state, but not the funding. See what I mean about sneaky?  So we are protesting on the sidewalk across the street this coming Saturday from 10am-noon. My signs are ready! And I will be home in time to make my Easter dishes. 

My lovely daughter is hosting Easter and I am bringing some of our favorite dishes.  Way back in the olden days, maybe the late 80's?, I think Family Circle had a suggested Easter Menu with a timeline so you could fix and ready dishes ahead.  I lost my original copy, found one on Ebay and then found mine so I have a backup. The original menu was lamb (we substitute ham) along with Lemon Honey Cornish Hens, a Red Potato and Spinach casserole, Cream of Asparagus soup and a dessert I can't remember.  I will be bringing my ham, hens, potatoes and the soup which is my favorite to the meal.  I also purchased chocolate marshmallow eggs for my deviled egg plates. 

Facebook claimed it was siblings day recently so I posted this. It was the beginning and end of my career as a dancer. 

It's Only Tuesday

Well, tonight I ended up with five adults and four children for dinner which was fortunate because I happened to have made two 9 x 13 casseroles. My daughter (who was a last minute addition with her two children) said, "You just happened to have two casseroles hot and ready five minutes after I call?"  It's like she never met me. 

I was going to take a photo of my beautiful table settings, but I forgot. 

I was supposed to be at a "Townhall" meeting with an invisible representative tonight. After I got tickets for a very special and inspirational speaker who was standing in for him, I remembered I cannot climb stairs or bleachers and that there would probably be stairs or bleachers. I gave up my tickets. It is my understanding it was sold out and over 1,000 people were in the overflow room. I have been getting texts and photos and wish I could have been there. 

I went to my final PT therapy yesterday and she gave me pages of exercises to continue with, each stage a little more challenging. I came home and had a bad attack of sciatica and could barely move the rest of the day. I am now using the ramp to get to my weekly Monday meeting.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) I have my final review, with someone new since my therapist transferred to a different facility after my appointment. I  have done well at therapy since I really hadn't had any attacks of sciatica or vertigo since I started.  But I don't think further sessions will change anything. I just need to keep up with exercises to strengthen my foot and leg and keep marching down the hallway with the head motions for the vertigo.  

Tomorrow we are going to "early" vote since I am not clear what is going on with the "Save" Act where I can only prove I am a citizen and can vote if I have a passport. And I need to apply for a passport.  Then I am having lunch with my high school friends at the same restaurant I will be having lunch with my library friends on Saturday. Small town life doesn't have a lot of variety sometimes, LOL.  Then on to my PT review.  Thursday I will be in the office all day and Friday the brown truck should be dropping off the stickers for my next protest sign. 

Ohio is changing how they are funding libraries since 1983 when the state established a Public Library Fund, based on a percentage of that year's budget, and distributes the funding for operating libraries. Communities have a property tax for infrastructure and maintenance. The State actually sent libraries a forecast of the funding for 2025 in January. They have now introduced an amendment to this year's budget eliminating the Public Library Fund entirely forever and replacing it with a line item amount that has cut the funding by 27 million dollars.  They have also included verbiage that requires libraries to remove any materials that might mention LGBTQ+ ( you know, like a newspaper or a book) as well as anything else "objectionable".  And your guess is as good as mine on that one. 

I worked for our local library as a library assistant, as well as children's programing, in the 1980's and 90's.  I had two objections made to the board at that time. One was that my theme of "Bells" for my monthly "Kindergarten Club" storytime  and craft for December did not mention the birth of Jesus and the other was for a book in the collection - The Little Witch Goes on Vacation.  This toddler level story book showed the Little Witch and her cat riding a broom to an island for vacation. The objection was that it portrayed witchcraft in a good light. I would like to say that on my Sundays off, I was a first grade Sunday School teacher where I did mention Jesus's birthday. We did not receive one complaint about the book of naked pictures of Madonna that had a long wait list for check out. 

My sign for this protest will simply say "Restore Library Funding".  

AFTER WRITING ALL THIS - And in the middle of proofreading - I just got a text that the state is already back pedaling on this.  They are going to restore the Public Library Fund, but are not going to use the same funding formula. I may wait until the last minute to make my sign to make sure what is going on.  Instead of a percent of the total budget which is how the fund was previously funded, they are going to assign an amount each year.  I think I am staying with Restore Library Funding.   

Meanwhile the state budget is giving the owners of the Cleveland Browns $600 million dollars to build a new stadium outside of Cleveland which is not making anyone I know very happy either. 

A Week

I have had a week.  I am faithfully doing my PT twice a day and it is wiping me out. These activities include walking up and down my hallway. I am a dish of jello. Meanwhile I have a star student. So proud

I started my week using my lego leftovers to make some signs. 

I attended a protest against a candidate for state governor who wants to abolish public schools. He wants to use my tax money for private school vouchers and the rest of us can home school. He used to be the co-chair of doge.

Me and 100 friends. My youngest grandson told his parents grampa dumped me out on the side of the road. 

The next day was warm and sunny and the preschool got to stand across from a man with a jackhammer! 

Registered for my state genealogy conference this year. This is from their Facebook page - so cute. It is at the end of the month and I am so excited. You may remember last year I won five door prizes, LOL. 

Did you see this? A photographer was taking portraits during cherry blossom season and planning to edit out the people walking on the sidewalk behind. The parents behind her were yelling did you get that!  And when she looked in her camera, Obama had passed behind them. So cool. 

And then we had a first wedding anniversary. They celebrated with pizza. 

Saturday arrived cold and windy and raining.  We were hoping for at least 100 people at our sidewalk along a state route in a neighboring city. 

Hat to keep the rain off my glasses, chair because sciatica. Woman to the left is a new friend who has health issues. I offered my chair as needed and she was a frequent sitter.  I had a second sign but a young man with dreads came unprepared. That one was Hands Off Unions. He asked if he could keep it. 

I am on the look out for a bubble umbrella. What a great idea. 

I met a woman in the parking lot and we became buddies. She is in her 80's and is a retired art teacher.  This Viet Nam vet was very animated about the loss of Veterans Health benefits, especially the defunding for Burn Pits and Agent Orange in the proposed budget. Luckily his wife was there to curb the language from our tender ears. 

I love a sense of humor. 

A screen shot from the video shows we were up to 700.  Yes. 7 times the amount of people we expected. I never left my spot because I didn't want to fall in front of another audience. But there were all kinds of people I was surprised to see, former members of my church, school friends and even my physical therapist and her husband. I met all kinds of new friends, too! Standing for three hours in an icy rain helps bond you together. 

This was the corner across from me. I stayed in one spot.  The traffic was unbelievable. It was bumper to bumper the entire time - in every lane! I have never seen this much traffic here. The local township police stationed an officer across from us as a precaution and there was only one ticket. Someone in a very large black truck thought it would be fun to blow a cloud of black smoke at us. He started way down from me and was out of smoke by the time he got to us (it was useless in the wind and rain anyway). Then he did it again for the second half of the crowd, but started squealing his tires and shooting the big cloud right in front of the officer! Dude, pay attention to your surroundings.  

Meanwhile, hundreds of honks and waves and thumbs up and fists out of sunroofs! Lots of waving little American flags out the car window.  I didn't know that was a thing, I guess I will be investing in little flags for the car. 

Some people drove by and dropped off cases of gatorade.  Another group bought deli trays of little sandwiches at Kroger and dropped those off down the line.  It was very sweet.  And we saw lots of puppies in car windows too. 

It was such a sense of community. Everyone was so positive and happy.  We all looked out for each other. I hope this sense of community spirit continues. 

I should mention the librarians. Our state has decided, along with the federal government, to eliminate funding for libraries and museums. One local library gets 90% of their funding from these sources. They were ready to fight! 

And then I got to come home, dry off and host a sleepover for these two rugrats.  Mom picked them up this morning, dried them off and took them to meet the REAL Easter bunny! 

And now we are scrubbing and deep cleaning our kitchen AGAIN.  We are at war with some tiny ants and I am about ready to get out the blow torch. And yes, we have dumped vinegar all over everything, we have dumped lemon juice all over everything, we have sprinkled cinnamon from ceiling to floor. We bought ant caps and then more ant caps. And sprays safe for kitchens and I think one that isn't.  He sprayed the foundation of the house with something I am sure is not safe for the environment. Today he went to the "man store" and gosh knows what he bought. I am staying out of the line of fire. 

The Rest of the Week

The bathroom project is underway.  Walls are falling, debris is piling and dust is floating. 

I discovered there is a 5" area of dead space between my bedroom bookcase and the bathroom closet/shelves. Since my contractor cannot incorporate it into either side, it just seemed like a shame to leave it empty.I decided it needed doll house furniture and perhaps a ceramic mouse family.  I have limited shopping available in my small town and the Dollar store let me down. But on the way out I spotted a fairy village and went with that.  

My friend said I should have included a note for future home remodelers but it was too late. The new drywall is up. 

Then he made me do math.  The picture is a photo I took of something that was on a display for shower doors at the home improvement store. I like to photograph things like that and print them randomly when my local drug store offers a free 8x10.  It took a few marker colors, but I finally got it the way I want it. 

Thursday Miss Merry, a daughter, a daugher inlaw and four grandchildren went to an "imagination station" in a city an hour away.  That city was not on school break so we really had a wonderful time with not many other children. 

Thursday evening I talked my daughter into joining me for gigantic margaritas at our Mexican restaurant while we enjoyed the karaoke contest finalists. I have been watching the competition on Facebook live, but she was very surprised by the talent of the finalists.  They were sensational! The winner will be announced next week. 

Friday I had a shuffle of children, but still had four grandchildren here.  It was supposed to be warm and sunny with temperatures maybe reaching 70. Instead it was cold and cloudy and rainy. I had purchased the box of Christmas Cutouts at GFS in November and the box was still unopened in my freezer. It was the perfect day to bake and frost Christmas cookies. 

Today I am trying to watch television over the sound of a drill and hammer and sawzall and trying to catch up on laundry while side stepping the extension cords and shop vac.  This is almost physical therapy since one of my exercises is going up and down my hallway, facing ahead while side stepping.  

Monday I get to go to another two hour training as a poll worker. I guess my state is planning on paying me to attend the same two hour session 2-3 times a year for the rest of my life.  I am not, however, setting up the room for this spring's election after the table broken nose incident. 

Spring Break

A new post already because I don't want the last post at the top of my page. 

The bathroom renovation has begun. Do you see the writing on the wall? 

I posted these pictures in our family group shot and my middle son shared that he remembers that he and his younger brother were put to bed and when the oldest came to bed, he told them he and dad had signed the wall behind the new cupboards. And they were so jealous. 

So that was cute. And I told them that anyone else who now wants to sign the wall 33 years later has two days to come and do it! 

And then I took grampa out for his favorite hamburger at an out of town hamburger stand to thank him for his hard work. 

It turns out the hamburger stand is closed on Tuesdays, but there is a Mexican restaurant across the street. 

Meanwhile the two moms and a dad took this group on a movie and dinner outing.  I couldn't make it. Thank goodness.

My oldest daughter is in London with her family and this is the living room in their Airbnb. And isn't it just what you would expect? So cute. 

I got another book in the mail (that I ordered) and it is on the top of the to-be-read pile. And today I spotted another to-be-read pile I forgot about in my bedroom. 

And this afternoon I visited the Physical Therapy Department for an evaluation.  It turns out I am not just clumsy. I have some reasons to be clumsy. 

I did a whole series of simple tests and she confirmed that my left foot and even my left leg drags. She thinks it is possibly due to my sciatica and that my shingles followed the sciatic nerve and caused nerve damage. So I will be going to physical therapy to strengthen the foot and leg.  

 

And she really noticed my balance is off. It wasn't just me. She isn't sure what caused it; could be scar tissue from ear infections, but it was obvious that I have trouble maintaining balance without being able to tap a wall or keep my eyes open or keep my arms where I can reach out to grab something. She had me stand on a piece of foam and it was like I was in outer space. There is something called Vistibular Rehabilitation Therapy for that.  There are a few therapists out there that specialize in both so I am getting signed up for three sessions a week for three weeks and we will see what's up.  I am hoping to be able to go places this summer without clutching a stroller for support.  And hopefully I won't fall out of any more cars. 

I moved my church day to tomorrow. Thursday I am going to an imagination station with a crew of children and parents and Friday I am starting PT and then taking two other grandchildren out to lunch on the island - since our temperatures are supposed to go up 30 degrees higher than they were today. I hope that is true. 

And in the meantime I have exercises to do 3 times a day as I walk up and down my hallway. A purpose in life! 

The Weekend.

I'm pretty sure it was the start of the weekend that is making me feel absolutely exhausted. But aside from the freaky horrible catastrophy of six and a half hours daytime hours on Friday, I still managed to salvage what was left of two and a half days. 

Local headline.  I no longer have an sympathy for him since I found that the wild response from law enforcement in my front yard was due to his threats toward his wife regarding his automatic fancy pants weapon.  He is currently in the mental health ward in another city and has felony charges pending.  My heart does bleed for her and her children.  

And luckily he was stopped in his tracks in time for the Merry family to drive the two hours to hear my grandson's high school band performing in a college bar.  (selfish, I know and I don't care).  This is the first time my husband has seen them in person and it's been about a year and a half since I would listen to them practice in my daughter's basement when I would stay for a week while they did CEU credits at exotic locations. 

They were fabulous, even brought in a horn section in the rear right of the photo. There is another guitarist on the far left. It is hard for short grammas to take photos in a crowd. 

Afore mentioned short gramma. 

Saturday I was up and ready to drive the almost two hours in the other direction with this cutie pie and her mother to see a university production of the Sound of Music. I cannot tell you how absolutely talented every single vocal performer was and how impressed we were with the whole production. 

She absolutely loved the musical. I did not share any of the story ahead of time because I like to hear what she gets out of it. She thought it was a very sweet love story and that some guards came to take the dad and they climbed over the mountain so they could live happily ever after.  She did not notice any nazi symbols on clothing, she did not seem perturbed about any of that nonsense. I asked her if she thought it was a fairytale or a story or real life and she picked fairytale. She was shocked when I showed her a photo of the real Von Trapp Family Singers and I think it was because they were not college co-eds.  

Then, because we don't think ahead, we went out to dinner in a college town on a Saturday night with no reservations. An hour later we were seated and I enjoyed this bacon cheese burger with blue cheese and bacon jam and I am willing to drive two hours every week if I can have more of that bacon jam. 

No photo can do justice to the taste of this burger.  Maybe this photo of my favorite little girl child model eating a children's meal cheeseburger, but eating one of my french fries can explain the size of the sandwich. 

And because I was discombobulated Friday, I forgot to share a photo of my #six out of eight grandson's 3rd grade music performance, the second 3rd grade performance we attended in the last two weeks.  

He is the handsome young man in the blue shirt and had a dancing solo! We are very proud of him. 

And our Indivisible's townhall meeting made the national Indivisible account! What makes this so special is that I live in an area that is about 99% Republican. But the farmers and the veterans that make up our community are not happy.  Actually many are scared. This wasn't what they voted for.  And we were overwhelmed by the attendance. We reached in the sky and were hoping for maybe 30 participants, enough to not embarass ourselves in front of the speakers. We never expected in excess of 200 people. 

It is now spring break for every single one of my grandchildren. Again, not off to a good start. My oldest daughter woke up this morning to 26 missed calls from a contracted driver waiting at Heathrow Airport for her family who is not arriving until tomorrow morning. Her travel agent booked the wrong date.  .   .   

We are falling apart over here

*3:10 pm - all clear. The gentleman is being loaded in EMS and headed to the hospital. 

As if I didn't have enough going on, this morning around 8:30, just when I was going to hop in the shower, my friend Helen called and said 2 police cars just sped past her house towards my street.

We looked outside and they were stopped in front of my house and both officers (one was my son, jumped out, guns drawn). 

We do not pick up police on our scanner but heard them stage the ambulance a block away and station fire trucks at both ends of my street to block traffic.  The husband of the girl across the street has a gun and is out in the back yard threatening suicide.  We ended up with a sheriff, five police cruisers, the SWAT team, a Crisis Response Team, Mental Health who travel in an Equinox, I don't know what else. 

We are locked in our houses. My grandson is here and we have been playing tornado drill and hanging out in the windowless utility room. 

Most of these officers have rifles with them and my neighbors are exchanging pictures of shadows of armed men walking by their bedroom windows. 

I had a doctor's appointment and had to call and say SWAT was blocking my driveway and I couldn't come. They allowed me to do a zoom and were all very sweet.  I am going for a PT evaluation on Tuesday. 

It has now been 4 hours, maybe 4 1/2.  We are in the same spot. He is pacing all over the place with his gun. People are stationed everywhere. He almost surrendered and changed his mind. One of my neighbors can hear him talking when he comes closer to his house (next door to her house). 

His wife was inside when she called. About an hour into this, the assistant chief escorted her out safely. I was holding my breath.  I have texted her and invited her to my porch or in my house to wait, but she is still standing outside in 40 degree temps and tells me it will end soon. 

I live in paradise.  I live in a little town where everyone knows your name and remembers your kids names (they have two children, one just graduated and one is in high school). We share flower bulbs and shovel each others sidewalks and I for real have a picket fence.  When people move in, I take them a pie. 

This isn't supposed to happen here.  And no one needs a firearm like the one he has.  

I'm not sure what his struggles are. I know he has been battling health problems since they moved here in 2020.  I pray that he surrenders soon, that the law enforcement officers and his family are all safe, too. And that he willingly takes advantage of help that is offered to him. 

My son is the one whose firearm is holstered while he negotiates with him.  I never dreamed the little boy who rode up and down this sidewalk on his CHIPS plastic motorcycle would be a part of a police drama on the same doorstep.  

There are times when I want to eliminate social media, but it has been a godsend to my neighborhood today. Those of us barracaded are staying in touch by private message since his wife is on our group chat. Those at work are also messaging me. And people who know it is my street are also messaging me. It was interesting during my zoom dr appt. Ding Ding Ding Ding

Updates upon Updates

I'm going to start with the klutzy update first.  As I was leaving our townhall meeting, I tripped going out the door and would have landed flat on the sidewalk if it wasn't for Mr. Merry grabbing me as several friends shouted "oh no" as I tipped.  My grandson went to preschool and told the teacher I had broken my leg and they prayed for me.  Spoiler, did not break my leg, did not break the skin.  I did, however make a doctor appointment for tomorrow to be evaluated for PT or something since my friends don't want to invite me out anymore if I am going to keep falling over. 

Our local indivisible and a nearby community’s Rising invited our US rep to a townhall last night. Surprise, he never responded. 

But 200 constituents did. And we had great speakers. We had a professional on veterans benefits who talked about the cuts to medical care to people who had put their life on the line for our country. We had a hospital benefits coordinator who spoke on the effects of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and how a rural hospital is already closing in our community due to insurance contracts that are not sustainable. We had a college professor from a nearby campus talk about education cuts and horrible policies and and professor about immigration stories (spoiler alert – there is no way the planes sent to El Salvador are coming back and he thinks the men will be released into the jungle and probably die, if they survive prison since the space is limited and more planes will go) and told us that hearings for those with green cards who apply for citizenship are 20 years out on court dates. AND we had a past president of the Farmer’s Union who spoke at length on the effects of policies like USAID and immigration and others on local farmers. And how six large farming operations in our state had USAID contracts with the USDA to grow for food banks and schools, those contracts have been cancelled after farmers already took loans out this year for planting  and how all that information of who they were has been scrubbed from federal and state websites. And our state claims not to know who they were.

I have been an Indivisible member since 2018. It is mostly the same group of women, pretty much my age. Last night we had 200 people and I bet over 1/3 were men, many Viet Nam veterans and/or farmers. He is hitting his base.

Now the question is – what will we do about it? We need a leader to rise.

I truly believe the audience included people who voted for him and never thought these policies would affect them. But is it too late.

Meanwhile the situation with the choir director is not going well.  I located the minutes from the previous meeting and, as you can see, they want him fired for being gay.  No criminal or inappropriate actions or other complaints, they just don't think he should exist. The group is now trying to sabotage a series of dinner theaters this weekend by cancelling blocks of tickets they preordered and didn't pay for.  And this will be a huge financial hit to the music program and is so unfair to the student performers who have been practicing their hearts out. Meanwhile the minutes:

 

Mr S addressed the board, regarding the hiring of Mr. K as the choir director for the 2024-25 school year. Mr. S started by saying he wanted to have transparency and a healthy civil dialogue about the concerns over this hiring. He stated that many were disappointed in the hiring of Mr. K. There are concerns that Mr. K's values are inconsistent with the values of the community and district. Mr. S said the hiring of Mr. K was, "Unacceptable to the students, and we, the district, and community, can’t allow this to take root and snowball.” He asked that the board change course, aim high, and employ good solid truth in education rooted in truth. Mr. S said, “God will not honor this path unless we choose to alter the path. If we compromise here and move the boundary of this decision what will be next?” He concluded by asking the board four questions. 

1. Was the board aware of Mr. K's lifestyle?
2. Can his contract be rescinded?
3. Can the district buy out his contract?
4. What can the board and administration do to ensure this will never happen again? 

 

Mr R addressed the board by saying he was here in concern. Mr. R shared a variety of mental health statistics about transgender youths and individuals. He shared that youth suicide has increased by 87% in the past decade. The facts, fewer role models with strong morals, weak leaders, and pushed agendas. Mr. Rhine questioned the Board’s violation of due process in the unanimous approval of Mr. K’s contract.

 

Mr R agreed with the two men. He stated that the questions that were asked need to be answered by the board for those who spoke and the community. Mr. R said, “This hiring was a huge mistake by the board. It is time to consider the children, the school, and the program and do what can be done.”

Tonight we went to our other 3rd grader's musical and he had a special solo where he danced to "Pizza Daddy-O". I would share the video if I knew how.  Tomorrow night we go to a random bar almost 2 hours away to hear my oldest grandson's band who is the opener for the opener.  

I saved this from Facebook but then saw some posts from the cancer thrift shop. So I don't see any decluttering happening soon.  And I will pass this shop on my way home from my doctor's appointment. 

Do you see that little basket of dolls on the bottom shelf?

 And the bowl under those eggs?

And this chandy?

Oh Lordy, the tea pot! 

Well, let's see what tomorrow will bring . . .