INTERESTING FACTS ON EARLY EASTER DATE

As you may know, Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon following the Spring Equinox (March 20, this year).

The dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population (95 or older) have ever seen it this early.

The last time it was this early was 1913. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now).

However, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is very rare. The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. The next time it will be on March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now).

BUSY WEEK AND KARI'S HOSPITAL STAY A GOOD THING?

This has been a very busy week for me. I'm sure glad I retired, because I certainly don't have time to go to work! Kari had her surgery on Monday, so I was up at the hospital a couple of times each day until she came home yesterday. And the weather was crummy, cold, and blowing snow, so I drove my mom to a couple of appointments so save her the trouble of driving in the winter crud. I attended a Bible Study, mid-week Lenten services, and a speaker on Christian Life Resources. I had lunch with my mom twice, dinner with mom and my sister once, dinner for Kari's family twice, and coffee with a friend today. Oh yes, grocery shopping and a couple of other trips into town that I don't even remember now. I sure notice the difference living five miles out of town. Everything takes longer.

Last night when we were eating tacos down at Kari's place, Kari was looking at some of the papers that had accumulated in Ben's backpack during the week. The papers all had excellent grades on them. Kari praised Ben and commented that he must have really worked hard this week. Ben informed her that he did so well because she was in the hospital!

And according to my site meter, visits to my blog in the last couple of days were way up, because of the readers that Kari had directed to check my site for updates on her surgery!

And I'm guessing Kari will feel a whole lot better after this surgery. So I guess we can say that her hospital stay was a good thing.

FLOWERS AND CANDY AND COFFEE, OH MY!

It seems that after I left the hospital yesterday, Kari had a rough time in the evening and through most of the night. But by the time I got up there late this morning, you never would have known it! She was showered, hair done, make-up on, sitting up in bed in her pretty pink robe instead of those ugly hospital duds. I brought coffee for her so she was excited to see me! Her room is beginning to look like a florist/candy/coffee shop, as she has numerous beautiful flower arrangements and plants, a neat box with assorted Starbuck coffees and a mug, and quite a few boxes and bags of chocolates. She also has a basket of good smelling lotions and bath gels. She had quite a few visitors today, including her two oldest daughters this morning, the three youngest kids this afternoon, and her grandmother and aunt. Add to all this the fact that she isn't having to clean house, cook meals or do laundry, and I'd say she's got a pretty good deal going!

However, we had the fun of having Adam's birthday dinner with him, and she didn't. And I know she didn't like missing that. Adam got a great dessert in honor of his birthday, and he was nice enough to pass it around. Nummy cheesecake! Thanks for sharing, Adam!

DAY AFTER SURGERY

Of course. I took my shower and Kari called. She talked to her dad and his report was "she's doing great!" Apparently she broke her new friendship with morphine and is now on a pain pill of some kind instead. She had been up and had taken her shower already. Sounds good, doesn't it? We are heading into town shortly with a stop at the florist first. Her favorite flower is the daisey so I think we should bring her a small vase of them. And I need to see for myself that she is doing great. Maybe she'll let me take a picture to post on my next update. She probably has her makeup on and hair done, and is sitting there twiddling her thumbs, wanting to get back to work!

Oh, I think I should bring her some coffee too, don't you?

THIRD UPDATE POST SURGERY

Kari is not break dancing in the middle of the hospital hallway, but she is doing very well. She was halfway awake when I got back from lunch, and Mike and Aaron were here with her. Aaron brought chocolates, which she hasn't even broken into yet! She is hooked up to the inflatable stockings which are pumping up and down at regular intervals. She has the BP monitor on her hand, making a see-through red tip on her index finger. And into her hand, along with the regular IV drip, is flowing her new best friend, morphine! When the nurse was in last she brought some ice chips, so Kari is getting her first nourishment of the day, calorie laden frozen water. She's looking good, and I imagine that at this time tomorrow she'll be begging me to bring her some coffee. Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes., and I will keep you informed.

SECOND UPDATE POST SURGERY OR KARI WILL KILL ME WHEN SHE FINDS OUT I'M HAVING DUNN BROS COFFEE

I left the hospital right about noon, as Mike came back after having a bit of lunch. When I left, Kari was being moved to her room. I ran to Dunn Bros (well, where did you think I'd go, Mac and Dons?) for a bowl of soup and a cup of good coffee. I'm thinking it's a bit early for Kari to have coffee, so I won't bring her a cup just yet, but I may have to run back out later to get her a cup. Actually, she'd probably be wise to wait until tomorrow morning! I'm heading back to the hospital now, and will post another update when there is something significant to blog. As for now, sounds like she's doing okay, and is probably not in any more pain than she was before.

FIRST UPDATE POST SURGERY

Dr. Peterson just came out and told us that the surgery went fine, and that Kari is in good shape and in the recovery room. She should be able to move to a room in about an hour, and then we will be able to see her. He said everything was as he expected, enlarged uterus with a fibroid tumor, overies looked fine. And he said she should feel much better with this behind her.

SURGERY IN PROGRESS

It's now 10:25. I've been sitting here trying to access the wireless here at the hospital since 9:30 when then took Kari into surgery. I just now broke through their rinky dink system that didn't want to let me on. Kari was in a good mood when they took her in, laughing and looking forward to getting rid of her horrible cramps. Her only concern was the lack of coffee in her system, and the surgery nurse assured her that she could have some coffee later this afternoon. So, being the good mama that I am, I will get her some good stuff from Dunn Bros. later today.

I expect the doctor to come out within the next 15 minutes or so, as they said it would be about an hour in surgery. Then another hour in recovery before they take her to her room. As soon as I know something, I'll update here. Meanwhile, thank you for your continued prayers.

FORREST GUMP

Ernie is watching Forrest Gump on TV. Last year on March 21, we were in Savannah, Georgia, where we saw the real, live, actual, honest to goodness bench that Forrest Gump sat on at the bus stop when he said that life was like a box of chocolates.

It's in a museum, and my picture isn't very clear, but it was kind of fun to remember the movie as we walked by. Everyone who saw the bench blurted out "Life is like a box of chocolates....."

WE'RE HAVING A HEAT WAVE

We're having a heat wave.
A tropical heat wave.
The temperature's rising,
And I don't know the rest of the song.


The temperature is reading 1 degree above zero this morning! Whoohoo! And the forecast for this weekend is saying 30. Above! I checked my blog from a year ago, the day my computer died, and found the temperature was 78 in Panama City, Florida. A month ago we were in Seal Beach, California, and it was 65. Yesterday in Wasilla, Alaska, north of Anchorage, it was 43 above zero. And yesterday here it was 16 below. Aren't temperatures funny? And speaking of funny, why was the language on my weather site set to Macedonian?

OVERHEARD AT THE GROCERY STORE

When I read Linda's blog about the conversation she overheard, it reminded me that I wanted to blog this conversation I heard at the grocery store yesterday afternoon. I had gone to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things for today's dinner, and being new back in town, I have no clue where to find things in the store, so I had to go up and down several aisles before I found the items I was looking for. I got stuck behind a couple, probably in their later 60's or early 70's, and I could tell things weren't going well on their shopping trip. And I was actually stuck behind them for three full aisles, starting in the soup aisle. The woman had a list in one hand, and with the other hand she was picking up cans of soup and reading the labels and checking back on her list.

"Here, you can have this kind. Should I get a couple of cans?"

"Don't want it."

"Okay, let's see. Oh, you can also have this one. Should we get this?"

"Don't want it."

"Well, dear, you always have soup for lunch, so we'll have to find something you will eat."

"Don't want it."

"Will you eat this kind?"

"Nope."

This poor woman went through every brand of soup, reading labels, and when she found something that matched her list, she kindly suggested they purchase that one. And every time he said the same thing. "Don't want it."

Finally she gave up, put about four different cans in her basket, held her tongue, and went around the corner to the next aisle. Here were crackers.

"These are on the list. Do you want these?"

"Nope."

"How about these?"

"Nope."

She put a box of crackers in her cart and continued on to the next item on the list. Of course he didn't want whatever that was either. I was amazed at how calm she remained, and at how kindly she spoke to this obviously angry man.

In the third aisle, in some dressings or sauces of some kind, she again asked:

"You can have this one. Shall I get it?"

"Nope, don't want it."

She looked at him, love and concern on her face, and said, "If you don't decide to get some of these things, you are going to starve."

To which the man replied: "I don't care. If I can't eat what I want, I'm not going to eat."

"Okay," she said, apparently having had it with him, but still in a very loving voice, "let's check out."

I felt two very strong emotions as I eavesdropped on their conversations. One was obviously that I felt sorry for him. He must have been given orders by a doctor or dietitian to eliminate some ingredients from his diet, and he certainly wasn't happy about it. But I also felt such compassion for the woman. She tried so hard to please him, offering him numerous things in place of the now forbidden ingredients, and nothing she could do pleased him. But she kept on trying. She remained calm. She was full of kindness in her conversation. She never gave up. I was so blessed by her public display of love. And I walked away, praying that if I was ever faced with something like that, that I would be half as kind and loving as she was. And I also prayed that this man's anger would subside and that he would accept whatever fate was dealt to him, and that he would come to realize that his wife was only trying to help him.

ENTERTAINING TODAY

After church today we are having our first dinner party. We've invited my mom and my brother and sisters and spouses. There will be ten of us. I don't like to be rushed, so I got the table ready last night by pulling the table almost to it's maximun length by inserting 3 leafs.
Yesterday I spent the morning washing all of my precious depression glass and crystal pieces and getting them arranged in my china hutch. Most of the green depression glass came from my grandma, the famous Nonny of the Nonny chair, and I've picked up several amber, yellow and pink pieces at garage sales and thrift shops. I treasure these dishes even though many of them had humble beginnings as gas station or drug store give-aways.

Yesterday afternoon son Lance, Tya, and the girls, Jaden and Madison, spent several hours with us. The girls had a good time exploring our new place, especially the storage area under the stairway. Jaden had a project for school to work on, getting information on the state she was assigned, Maine. So we looked through my photos of Maine from last summer and she picked about 30 of them and we zapped them off to Walgreen's for her mom to pick up on their way home. What a neat deal!

Then we were invited to Kari and Mike's for homemade pizza and apple pie for supper. And Ernie was thrilled when, as we were leaving, Kari placed in his hands an apple pie of his very own. Good thing we have a daughter who bakes pies for him, because I'm afraid that is not one of my talents!

TWO ROOMS FINISHED

I have finished unpacking and organizing two of our rooms, the bedroom and the livingroom. The dining room and kitchen and bathroom are just about finished. The rest of my time will be spent in the spare room, which at this point is a mess! Here are a couple of photos of the completed rooms.

Kind of a dark one
Note the three pictures on the shelf. They are watercolor prints that I bought in Peggy's cove, Nova Scotia this past summer. I picked the blue in the sky and water as the color to use in the room, with cream and black.
The living room below is based on our prints by Terry Redlin and Jim Hensel. Up north, cabin, lodge looking furniture and accessories.

And of course my Nonny chair!
We think it is quite comfortable and you are invited to come, sit, have a cup of coffee, and a nice long visit. Oh, there is one change......the coffee table now contains a vase of pink, cream and yellow flowers, a gift from my valentine!

GETTING THERE!

Remember the picture of the pile of clothes in the corner of the bedroom? This is what it looks like now. We are getting there.....working until I ache every night, but finally seeing daylight! I've emptied umpteen boxes, washed loads of dishes after unwraping them, and have found places for most of our things. I'm within a day or two of posting pictures of all the rooms.

FREE RICE

My sister, Betsy, told me about this site , and now I'm sitting here, improving my vocabulary and helping wipe out world hunger! Try it. It's addicting.

OUR NEW PLACE

I knew you would be excited to see our new place, so I took a couple of pictures. I guess we're not quite ready for company yet. This is the corner of our bedroom. Our dresser is still in storage.
Clothes, shoes, lamps, clothespins, and quilting fabric. Not quite what I hope the end result of this closet in the spare bedroom will be.
The spare bedroom/sewing room/computer room. Note that the modem and wireless router are in place, albeit on a box....the rest of it is quite hodge podge.

BEAUTIFUL FUNERAL

Yes, you heard me right. Today Ernie and I attended a beautiful funeral. We celebrated the death and arrival in Heaven of a dear, dear woman who was over 99 years old! She was a faithful member of my hometown church for 74 years. Her beloved husband had gone home to Jesus about 6 years ago, and this sweet lady wanted nothing more than to join her husband of 68 years in Heaven with Jesus. She fell asleep early Wednesday morning, and is now happily reunited with her husband and is praising her Savior and dwelling in the mansion He has prepared for her.

And it truly was a happy day, a wonderful celebration. We visited with her four daughters and their families. There were few tears. Everyone was joyful, rejoicing that her journey on earth was complete and she was finally at home. This woman was a beautiful example of a Christian wife, mother, and member of the church. Yes, Agnes will be missed, but not for one minute would anyone wish her back on this earth.

Blessed are those who die in the Lord...Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed. Rev. 14:13

CHICKEN, ALASKA

The weather forecast for the weekend says that we will return to below zero temps for a couple of days. Sunday may be as low as 15 below. But that is nothing compared to Chicken, Alaska. Yes, Chicken is a real town in Alaska. Their temp this morning was 72 degrees below zero. Oh, that was the low temperature. The high was a balmy 55 below. Can you imagine? So we should count our blessings.....15 below sounds like a tropical heat wave compared to that, doesn't it?

A LENTEN BLESSING ON ASH WEDNESDAY

I received this from a friend two years ago, and have read and reread it, attempting to make the fasts and feasts my own. It obviously is a path for life, not just for Lent. I posted it last year during Lent, but I would like to share it with you again. I do not know where it is from, or who the author is, but it was given to me by my friend Nina.

LENT - Path of Blessing

Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from criticism; feast on praise.
Fast from self-pity; feast on joy.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from jealousy; feast on love.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from selfishness; feast on service.
Fast from fear; feast on faith.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Aren't they beautiful suggestions? Oh, what an improvement we would find in our day to day living if we could only follow these fasts and feasts. Once again, I will attempt to follow them closer.

WHAT ARE THESE PARENTS THINKING?

I don't think they are thinking. I found this statistic in a magazine at the laundry this afternoon where I was (I hope, I hope, I hope) doing the last loads I will have to do in public machines. Our washer and dryer should be installed soon. But back to the statistic. Listen to this: 84% of fifth through eighth grade kids said their parents let them watch R-rated movies! (Source: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH)

Whaaaaat? You have got to be kidding. These kids aren't seeing enough just walking through the halls at school, shopping at the local mall, or even sometimes in their own homes, so you have to let them watch the Hollywood version of filth? I am shaking my head in disbelief.

TA-DA!

Whoo hoo! Internet and TV are now working. After dinner last night we found out that the cable guy was back out here, working on getting the signal to our place. I wonder if this interest in getting us hooked up had anything to do with the trip Ernie made into town to their office yesterday? Hummmmm. We had already checked out the competitor's service and rates, and were ready to switch, demanding our money back which they had received on Friday for the supposed hook up on Saturday which didn't happen.

But the guy that was here last night was pleasant, kind, and polite, and he set things up as far as he could go without getting something from the office that he needed. This morning as I was sitting here in my jammies, the doorbell rang. Before 7:30, mind you! The same young man was here, and quick as a flash he installed the HD portion of the TV, and then got my internet hooked up, and was even kind enough to answer my questions about our wireless router, which we then got hooked up.

I feel like I'm connected to the world again. Without TV news, radio news, or internet news, I felt a bit out of it. Now I have my FOX NEWS back, and all that's on is the Super Tuesday election stuff. UGH. Can't they outlaw all this junk, and just start with the ads along about next November 1st? Nothing I hear between now and then is going to change my mind........I don't like any of them!

HOME SWEET HOME

We are no longer homeless. On Friday we moved into our new place, and so far we are lovin' it! We emptied out the RV on Saturday, and parked it out at Ernie's brother's farm. As soon as the weather warms up a bit, we'll get it cleaned up and on the market.

On Friday afternoon the futon and mattress and box spring were delivered, so we were able to sleep out here that night. Or I should say, some of us slept, others of us were awake all night, walking around, looking out the windows and just listening to all the new house noises. I was so tired on Saturday that I felt sick, and was exhausted by that evening. However, I slept well the last two nights, so I feel much better.

The cable guys came out on Saturday to install our TV and internet cables, but it didn't happen. Something about the main signal spot being too far away so they have to bring one closer before they can hook us up. Anyhow, no cable for the Super Bowl. Fortunately, Ernie isn't proud, and he called up his brother and asked to be invited over for super and the game! Thanks Neil and Karen! The supper was very good, and the game was great, and the conversation superb.

And a thank you to the person in this neighborhood who has an unsecured wireless signal. I can't always connect, but every now and then it works.

We are expecting our sofa, recliner and my Nonny chair early this afternoon. Then I can kind of put the living room area together, although our lamps are in the storage truck, and I have no idea when we'll get to that stuff. But at least we'll have something to sit on , and Ernie can sit in his new leather recliner and look at the TV and pretend something is actually on the screen. Doesn't really matter as he thinks recliners are for sleeping anyway.

And don't you think the town would change their population figures? The sign as you enter the town says 1787, and it should now read 1789. And all is well in our little Lake Wobegon town.