2Homes*2Lives

Mom was dehydrated last weekend, sending her to ER. My sister called upset that she would not last. My younger brother suggested we should have a plan in place for her funeral. I agreed because I don't want to have to make decisions when the time comes, but am hoping against hope we don't have to give her up yet. Went to see her yesterday. Took our grandson Jake also. As I approached Mom to wheel her out of her room she looked up with her sweet eyes saying, "Marilyn" and my heart melted. Just being near her is comforting and it was sad seeing her struggling to answer anything we asked her as if she could not access information in her brain. Jake played cards with my sister and me and my younger brother, we call "the funny one", injected his humor. Still, the time seems fleeting when with her. Putting my all into this week as the school yearbook is due and one art show and then it is free sailing just about to the end of the school year. I so wish I lived clo...

RC and sons Jake (6) and Evan (2) came over...Sweet Evan stayed in the house and RC and Bob (Buzz Light Yr. Bob!) took Jake for a ride...Jake lost a tooth around Christmas and hasn't a new one yet. May go out for Valentine's Day with daughter in law Lindsay to shop at Hobby Lobby...great place. Just to get out and shop is a treat anymore. Usually I just love being home. This is our second day home due to snow and Bob is enjoying being able to "play" outside like a kid. He has a plow on his car and is helping neighbors and friends clear their driveways, so he's also out doing something nice for others. Beth and I are watching TV, sleeping and picking up clutter in the house...Heaven.

Our mother Audra is a trooper and the older I get the more wisdom I find she has passed on to her children. It's not always that woman out fighting for career rights and heading up every committee that has the most lasting impact on their children. I have learned from Audie that you can put others before yourself, be cooperative, get through anything in life that comes your way, and always, always be there for your kids. She was a steadfast anchor in our lives and remains that to this day. Everytime we are near her we are reminded that her only wish in life was to be a good wife to her husband and a loving and supportive mother to her children. Her biggest legacy will be in the way we parent our children and face life's challenges with dignity and the will to Just Do It, as the ads tell us. We only hope for more time to show the respect, love and devotion we all have for her. Happy 88th Birthday, Mom ! Time for a new camera, don't you think? Sorry for the blurry pictures. P...

If you think students look forward to snow days off school, you should be a schoolteacher! In Ohio, where we live, the snow can be an inch and they freak! We got our first stay on the ground snow fall last night, I think of the season. More predicted midweek. Husband Bob and son RC are looking forward to trying out two bright purple snowmobiles Bob bought off a neighbor at the cottage up north.

One of the reasons I married husband Bob 29 yrs. ago was because he always knew how to make me smile. He was on the computer today when I wanted to use it and when he turned it over to me, he handed me this, that he cut from green computer paper...

Top 4 photos were taken by my younger brother Bob, who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Pres. Ford was laid to rest. The two on the bottom are from the National News service online: - Mrs. Ford being escorted down the center aisle of the National Cathedral by Pres. Bush at the funeral and - in April 2006 when Pres. and Mrs. Ford visited with Pres. Bush. Gerald R. Ford left this earth with the dignity and grace in which he lived his life.

Grandson Jake came over on Saturday to give his parents some calm before the gift explosion.. Bob, Beth, Jake and I shopped, then came home to wrap gifts and work on his first ever wolven pot holders...he slipped one of the loops on his head for the photo...I took him outside to show him the old lifesize manger scene...he asked who each person was...I told him Joseph, the 3 Wisemen, Mary, and the lamb..." Oh" he said. "Mary Had a Little Lamb!" - " No, a baby Jesus" I replied and we both laughed as we walked back up the stairs to the house. I love seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child. Judy sent this Ashland Link...Normally I don't like the click cards, but the music and the add ons are very calming to watch, so please try it out... http://ecard.ashland.edu:80/2004admission/index.html Enjoy Christmas Eve...will probably post again tomorrow with thoughts of the day. Merry Christmas !

Subject: Christmas Party Three men were about to enter a private Christmas Party when they were met at the door by a large menacing figure of a man. "In honor of the season," said the man, "you must each show me something that symbolizes Christmas before I can allow you to pass." The first man fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. "It represents a candle," he said. "You may pass." replied the stranger. The second man reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, "They're bells." He was also allowed to pass. The third man started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women's panties. The grim figure looked at him with a raised eyebrow and snarled, "just what do those symbolize?" The man replied, "These are Carols." And So The Holiday Season Begins....

http://www.youtube.com/v/qgLgcKcWETA (Click on Link below picture to see/hear video) Everytime I hear this ad on TV, I get up and Dance! Enjoy!!!!!

This year Craftland will open its doors at 70 Eddy St., Providence RI on Friday December 1, 2006, and will be open until December 23. CRAFTLAND is open five days a week, Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 6pm, and Thursdays 11 - 8pm December 1st - 23rd!

Scrubbed Beth in the tub and we hopped into the Volvo and headed to Reenie and Mike's house. We picked up fries and a coke for Beth then traveled mostly the Interstate before going the country roads. The sun was out and I felt like we could have done a Thelma and Louise all day as it was so gorgeous. Turning north we went by a small lake and saw blood smeared all over the road...just ahead I stopped at a hunting store to buy Beth some chocolate milk and there were tire tracks with blood all over the pavement and guys in orange everywhere...it's like the manly thing, though I hate to see a delicate and gracefully moving deer shot for the sport of it. Ellen arrived on time and ran over one of their cats...glad I am always late! Luckily, the cat seemed to be on it's last legs and there were more around to take it's place. It's hard to know when a cat's nine lives are up! We sat at their kitchen counter looking over Ellen's photos (she's a WONDERFUL photogra...

Today was my 59th birthday....Wonderful Day! Woke around 9, showered and put my hair up in rollers. Ran into town, where they don't care what I look like, to buy lemon juice for the Waldorf Salad, gas in the car, coffee etc. Bob was perfecting the two hams for his dinner entries. We arrived at RC and Lindsay's before noon. Beth was stubborn and didn't want to leave the car, but we finally coaxed her inside. The kitchen was filled with smoke...the turkeys weren't done, despite their being cooked by directions. Dinner wasn't for another hour (did they tell me the wrong time to make me show up in time?). RC gave me cards from them and said Jake originally picked one with a sexy guy on it for me. They gave me a beautiful pair of white gold earrings that RC mentioned were worth far more than they paid, so I should be careful not to lose them. I feel so loved by them all the year through. Dinner was great...everything you could ever want. Tables were set up in the living ...

Husband Bill and Annette - Great Couple! Jeanne, Annette, Betsy, Carol, Me, Peg and Karen I'm already thinking this is too long of a story to tell, but will attempt to shorten things. High School and forever friend Annette invited us all to dinner at her house. I had driven halfway and called to ask when Happy Hour started and she told me "wrong weekend!" The next weekend I drove up, I stopped at the same place and bought some eye makeup at a department store...only to discover after returning from the weekend that I left my Master Card with the clerk...a mere 8 hrs. roundtrip...They insisted I had to show up in person to pick it up....took me forever to convince them to mail it back to me! Anyway, back to the story....Arrived for the first time in Annette's town on that second (correct) weekend. Had forgotten her directions, other than she said she lived at the end of a street, but had a map from Mapquest. I went to the house that was so bright with lights and a man ...

TheBattering Ram-Odot Truck Damaged side and back window totally smashed. Frame was bent also...I felt nothing, just heard the crash! Now it's beautiful again! Got my "baby" back after being in repair all summer...the guy is a genius who did it as he had to put the backend of another Volvo onto her. She was hit by an Odot Truck four times or more her size and I got the ticket because I was sitting at the median, though the truck driver had been no where in sight when I pulled out from the stop sign and the sun was in his eyes. Driving her is a thrill after the Tracker I've been driving to work to save on gas. I own one single stock in Volvo, but plan to buy more. I think they are the best car on the market (we've had several). This one I bought from an Arab who disappeared after 9/11 and his money backer found the cars from his lot scattered at different airports...so I reported him to the FBI. ---At least I got a beautiful car before he fled!

From the time I wake there is a conversation going in my head. I want to cry, but keep telling myself that God says to buckle up and get a grip. How many years until death...people we know are dying and they aren't all that old. Can I ever stop the treadmill? Bob's voice is so hyper. We talk, but not really sometimes... Beth is so beautiful...how to connect. Grandsons need time. Dog needs time. Bob keeps wanting me to do more. Here I go again...climbing another hill on the roller coaster. I'm exhausted from worry and trying to cover all the bases. Not doing a good job of anything. Don't want to waste time, but I can't say I ever really accomplish much. In a cloud more than ever. Hanging by a thread on the fabric of life. Not happy go lucky...the clown persona is cracking. Turn off the noise...calm and soothing...I can feel myself moving to do things but there is a numbness to life. I just want to exist, but life keeps getting in the way.

My maternal grandmother used to play a song on her grand piano called, "Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think"....enjoy, yourself, while your still in the pink...the years go by, as quickly as a wink, enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. I remember sitting next to her on the piano bench and belting out the tune, as she accompanied me. Retirement looms in the near future and I think of how I want to spend the time. You get to a point in life when you realize you have maybe 15 to 20 yrs. to go where you may have decent health and then it's the roll being called up yonder. Bob, Beth and I were driving through a small town south of us where they happen to have a small "head" shop with a pool table that sells posters, shirts and God knows what else. I bought my Janis Joplin shirt there . Saw her perform in the Grande Ballroom in Detroit above a bar and she was stunning. I told Bob when I retire I want to dress in hippie dresses...

Husband Bob is taking care of our daughter Beth trying to get her back to health. She was bone thin and not eating, fighting taking seizure meds., not getting exercise or outside enough. She is making small progress and it warms my heart to see it. Today Bob proudly renamed himself. Instead of Manny, he's House Bitch. It s with his favorite name for me...Witch Face. When I came home from work today the house was picked up and scented candles were lit everywhere. I told him how romantic of him. "Not really" he replied, " I had Beth out in the car with me all day and we weren't home...when I returned, I lit some candles because the house smelled funky." So much for that!

Years ago a librarian friend gave me a book by Pearl S. Buck about her experience in the early 1900's putting her handicapped daughter in an institution. I don't recall the a name of the book, but I do remember being surprised that our thoughts as mothers, despite the span of years between us, were very close. (Anyone know the name of that book? I'm looking for another copy). So when I found another book by Ms. Buck called "Pavilion of Women" I had bought many years ago I thought I would read it and pass it on to my sister in law who is travelling with my older brother to China next month. By the 15th page I was so engrossed in the book, I could hardly put it down. I carry it in my purse to read any free moment I have. The main character, Madame Wu reaches her 40th birthday and decides to acquire a concubine to satisfy her husband's needs so she can move to the other side of the court the family occupies and "have her body to herself once more." Ms...

Evan is the second of our grandsons (Jake's little brother). He is just finding his footing and is so sweet and innocent. He's not huggy unless his teeth are bothering him or he just woke up. And he is independent and adventuresome. Something tells me he may be the one to have the artist ability passed on in him. A little charmer.

We visited my mother who is 86 and living in a care facility in our homestate this last weekend. Took the grandsons up to see her. Most of the time there she didn't seem to know us as she didn't really bond in her usual manner. When I hugged and kissed her good-bye she did not respond as she has before with some comments. It's hard seeing her fading mentally. She looks good physically, eats well and they take good care of her, but I wonder if it is fair to her that she lives that way. Of course, I want her with us as long as we can have her selfishly because I won't want that day to come when we must part. But it's still hard saying goodbye to her mind and the essence of who she was to all of us. I am glad that we've had a chance to show her how much we love her and to understand what aging is like at the end and how much dignity she gives to even that.