I can't believe it....

Tuesday, April 5, 2016 -
     Saturday, April 9, 2016


Tuesday was a very good day - I had lunch with Ruth, Jean, and Veronica up at Country Inn in Mt. Orab, and we gabbed and gabbed for a couple of hours!  It was so relaxing and so needed.
When I got home, I felt energized and made the decision to get on the Wii and do some exercises/training.  It's been eight months since my friend (the one who came over here and did these exercises with me) has passed away, and I just finally said, "It's time."  I only did three of the exercises, which only took about 20 minutes, but, by golly, I did it!  I cried a little, yes, but I did it.

When I went to my TOPS meeting, I was a little discouraged to find out that I had gained about half a pound - .6 to be exact - but then I reasoned that Easter had done its damage, and if that's all it had for me, I will proudly take it!
Ron made supper while I was gone, and we enjoyed a real supper for a change.  He made chicken, mac & cheese, and corn.  It was excellent!
But, yes, I was over on my calories for the day when I put my food into MFP.

On Wednesday, I had another meeting to go in the evening, and I had reports to print up to take, and my printer is out of ink (again - already!), so I type up the reports and email them to myself, then went up to the library and used a computer to retrieve them.  I got them printed and made copies, then went to Gold Star for my lunch.  While there, I let them know that we would be there on Saturday, and that we would be at least 12 people this time - and that's the people I knew were coming.  So I felt justified in going there for lunch today - it wasn't just a "just because" thing this time!
I went up to the Altar Society meeting that night, and there were two other women there.  TWO!  I don't know what we can do to make the women of the church realize that we few women are getting older and that things are getting a little desperate.  But, it is what it is and we'll cross that bridge later.
I had chicken noodle soup for my supper when I got home.

Thursday was my Happy Homemaker Day - laundry, dishes, all that fun stuff - and even a little extra because Chip is coming in on Friday on his way back home after his training in Mississippi.  He'll stay the night Friday night, then we'll have Gold Star on Saturday for lunch with family and friends (whoever shows up), and then he'll hit the road to be home by dark.  A lot of traveling over a couple of days...I'm glad it's not me!
Bert has also decided to spend the night Friday night so that she'll be able to see (and visit with) Chip this time around.  She didn't get to see him when he stopped on his way to Mississippi, and she wanted to see him this time.  She figured if she was here, she couldn't miss him!
So, anyway, I bustled around all day, getting this and that done around here.  I had two sausage, egg, and cheese croissants for my lunch - I was hungry! - and just kept going and going.  When Ron texted me, I decided not to walk because of the wind, and by the time he got home, it was pouring rain, too, so that ended up being a good decision.  I'm glad I can still make those every now and then!
One of the things I did while bustling around (once I thought of it) was to make a pot of chili for our supper.  It was such a cold and blustery day, a one-pot meal like that sure sounded good!  And it sure tasted good, too, once it got to be suppertime.  Ron was glad I had something ready because he was chilled through and through.

Friday was an exciting day - I got the new windshield in my BengalMobile!  I had to stay here all day and wait for them to (finally) show up, but like any technicians, that always seems to take forever.  Once they got here, it only took them about 40-45 minutes to do the job.  I took plenty of pictures, of course, and it was cold but fun watching them get the job done.  It sure hurt paying them the $200. but it didn't hurt as bad as the insurance possibly totalling and/or taking my car!  I just don't trust the insurance any more, and I know that's me.
Bert had come over before they got here, and she was here watching with me, asking questions too, just talking with the technicians and all that.  They probably thought we were a couple of crazy women!
After they had left, we went in the house and made ourselves comfortable (read: put on comfy clothing) and then Bert got a phone call - how she heard her cell phone, I don't know! - from her sister.  Her mom had slid out of her chair and is lying on the floor!  Oh, no!  We quickly - very quickly!! - put decent stuff back on and leave to go over to Bert's house, where we meet her sister.  Between those two and their neighbor, her mom is gotten up and into her chair.  She was a little dizzy when she first got up, but then she got back to her normal self.  We could tell by her responses to us.  Bert's sister decided to stay with mom so that Bert didn't have to change her plans, which we appreciated.
We got back home just before Ron got home from work.  I had been talking to Chip via text, also, and he was getting closer but kept getting stuck in "parking lots" on the freeways and highways (first on I75 where that rockslide/landslide was at the KY/TN border, then on I275 for reasons unknown, and again on 125, which was just Friday night traffic) and thought he was never gonna get here.  That 10-hour drive was getting longer and longer.  He was ready to be here!
Finally, though, he let us know how close he was and we left to go meet him up at Frisch's.  As you know if you're from the Cincinnati are, once you leave the area, when you come back you go to certain places.  In our family, these places are Frisch's and Gold Star.  So, we are doing Frisch's tonight for Chip for supper and Gold Star tomorrow for lunch.  Then we all got back home and the night was pretty much over....Chip showered and went to bed, Ron and I played mini-golf (I beat his ass!), then he went to bed, too.  Bert and I stayed up for a while talking, but then we went to bed around midnight because we all had to get up in the morning.

Saturday was our Chilifest day with family and friends.
We got up to Gold Star - we thought early - to find out that some of the family were already there!  Ai yi yi!  Our cousin Veronica and her family (her dad Ken, her husband Oscar, her daughter Erin, and her granddaughter Naomi) were there, as well as my sister Ruth and her family (her daughter Tammy and her grandchildren Hailey and Warren).  My son Josh and his 'family' (my sister Jean and his son Corgan) pulled in right after us, and, of course, Bert was right behind us, too.  With me, Ron, and Chip, that made 16 of us!  That was pretty cool!
Then, as we were eating, my brother K.O. and his wife Beth came in, too - so that made us 18!  That was totally awesome!  And, if you were counting, there were 5 of the 8 siblings there, which was pretty amazing in and of itself.  Of the three that weren't there, two live out-of-state, so I think that was pretty damn great.  Of course we took pictures to commemorate the occasion.
After eating, we just visited and played with the kids for a bit, but finally Chip had to hit the road - he did want to get home by dark and it's a seven hour drive - and other families had other plans, too.  It was bittersweet, but I'm so glad it happened.

Ron and I went on down to Amelia to get our grocery shopping done.  We visited the Wals - Walgreens and Walmart - as well as Kroger (for his tonic water) and got all that done, then came home and got everything in the house and put away.
Then Ron decided that it was concert time!  We have DVDs of different groups, which he usually watches when I'm not home, but today we watched Foreigner and the Eagles and jammed our little hearts out.
We had cheese weenies for our supper, and that was our big exciting night.

I got on the pute and put up the pictures from our Chilifest and from my new windshield.  Now I've got my blog caught up, too.
My back hurts and I'm sure I hear my bed calling me.