Tuesday November 23rd: work was cancelled because of snow and ice today so I got to stay home. Before I got out of bed this morning I got a call from Debbie Youngblood and then Johnny a few minutes later. Their daddy had just then passed away. He has been sick for some time and this past week he had a serious stroke. This morning Debbie and Johnny were both with him when his breathing just slowed and he just passed on to be with his Savior. They both said it was peaceful and gentle, just what he deserved as he was an awesome man. He was my second father and I was blessed ‘beyond measure’ for having him in my life. It didn’t take long for me to decide I needed to go to Texas for the memorial service. I was so glad for the extra time because it took a little shopping to get an airplane ticket on short notice during Thanksgiving weekend. The prices were downright scary and I think that is why Bill let me do the trip by myself. It was a short trip and I promised to take good care of myself. Naturally there were no seat assignments so I will make a point of getting to the airport early enough to get a decent exit row seat.
Wednesday November 24th: work was cancelled today also because of snow and ice. Yikes the weather is much more like Christmas. Bill took a friend to the airport, she said when she called for a Taxi the night before they just laughed at her. In the afternoon Bill and I ran some errands together and I got a little more Christmas shopping done. I want to take all the Texas gifts with me when I go, that will save on shipping and I don’t have to be concerned about things getting lost in the mail.
Thursday November 25th: Thanksgiving: We woke up to fresh snow and ice this morning. There was a lot of talk between Bill’s sister and Bill and Amanda and Toula. We all agreed that the weather was too bad to risk getting Toula from Mount Vernon and bringing her to the city for Thanksgiving. Bill’s sister-in-law lives in Mount Vernon and she volunteered to take Toula a plate of Thanksgiving food and visit for a bit. She is just the sweetest thing, she is always thinking of others and she is so good to her own mother. We are blessed that she is in the family. The meal at Barb’s was delicious, my favorite is the gravy. I like the gravy on everything; the turkey, the potatoes and the stuffing. I could call it soup and eat it with a spoon. Barb said something about being irreverent about thanksgiving, I can’t remember exactly but I said and I will say it a lot, “I am so thankful that I am here to enjoy this Thanksgiving.” I am so glad to be here each day. I want my life to have value and meaning to others and I hope I am open to seeing the opportunities that are there for me to bless others. We left Barb’s in the early evening and got home for me to pack and get to bed at an appropriate time.
Friday November 26th: It was snowing like crazy again this morning but nothing about the weather daunts Bill. We got to the airport just fine. The freeways were open and not much traffic but when we drove past a couple of malls they were solid parking lots of cars. All the shoppers were out early doing their Black Friday shopping. The flight was nonstop and easy. I knitted all the way there and had made a baby bib and a hat by the time I got there. David was waiting in the baggage area and Bobbie Ann and Kimberly and her husband John, the Marine, and their son Wyatt had all come to pick me up. Wyatt is just over a year and oh he is so cute. They have taught him baby sign language and I am so impressed. I really believe that he was much
happier and less frustrated and fussy than many other babies I have seen because he could express himself so well. They had fresh smoked brisket for dinner and then I went over to the Youngblood’s to visit for a while. When I got back Bobbie Ann showed me all her Black Friday shopping, she is totally amazing. Turns out she is an awesome Black Friday shopper. She says it is like going hunting and that there isn’t any ‘bargain’ she cannot walk away from. She had ‘adopted’ two families who were ‘in need’ this Christmas, 6 children total. She was allowed to spend $50 per child and with her daughter Jennifer’s help they had ‘bagged’ goodies for all. Each child was going to get new quality shoes, high quality jeans, a nice sweater or pull over top, 3 pairs of socks, gloves, coloring book and colored pens and a game and the moms in the family were getting gift cards to a grocery store. I was so impressed and inspired.
Saturday November 27th: When everyone got up and around we just visited and caught up with each other. Mostly it was about Wyatt and how cute and smart he was, but my vote was for David my brother-in-law. I told him I thought he was ‘channeling Bill Yeager, my daddy.’ David had made fresh hot biscuits and sausage gravy, one of the very best southern breakfasts. We all enjoyed it very much, even Wyatt. After breakfast I dressed and someone took me to the Youngblood’s house where I spent the day with all the family, Cousins and Aunts and Uncles came in and out, some I hadn’t seen since my high school days. Do you think I had changed much? Debbie has a grandson and a granddaughter and they were lots of fun to watch and cheered up everyone around them. Debbie’s brother Johnny and his wife Anita were there too. They have two of the most beautiful, inside and out, daughters that I have ever met. What I mean by that is we have been together precious few times over the years and they are so kind and loving to me. I know Nita and Johnny have taught them to love me but I don’t care, they do and it means the world to my heart.
I missed Tabitha’s wedding this summer when I was sick and not traveling and so I got to met her new husband Jordan, very nice and lots of help all day with the food and flowers and even the kids. It was fun to watch. The service started at two and we all left about 1:30 for the church. Johnny promised me photos but I don’t have them yet, just the few I shot with my iphone. We all had a good time remembering what an awesome man Mr. Youngblood was and I am so glad I was there to here all the stories. At the reception afterward my job was to be ‘cupbearer.’ I loved that job. All the family and especially Debbie needed to greet and talk to all the guests. I on the other hand didn’t know so many people so I stayed right by Mrs. Youngblood and held her plate of goodies and her cup of water. She would get so dry from talking and I would just hand her the cup of water for a minute and then go back to just being nearby. Every so often someone would come and ask if I was Debbie and I would say no and point them in her direction. Debbie/Deborah Kay is an amazing woman. How many women do you know that have close lifetime friends? She has 3; Janet she met first when they lived in Corpus Christi, then she met Karen when she lived in Waco. I met her in 7th grade when her family moved to Austin and right into my neighborhood. We were best friends forever more. All three of her special friends came to Dallas for the memorial service and for the very first time we were all three together.
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| Top Row: Janet and CeLinda Bottom Row: Debbien and Karen |
Sunday November 28th: I went to church with Bobbie Ann and David, Johnny and Anita were there also, they had all ready gotten their girls off to their respective homes. Bobbie Ann and David and I went out for a delicious Mexican lunch, I packaged up my leftovers and ate them later for dinner on the airplane. After lunch we stopped by and visited the remaining Youngblood’s for a bit and then it was back to Bobbie Ann’s where I packed up (including one smoked brisket) and flew home. Bill was waiting in the cell phone lot when I landed and was there to pick me up in just a few minutes. It wasn’t raining, what a surprise.
Monday November 29th: I was up about 10 and unpacked before lunch. Bill and I went out, that was fun. He needed the break and there wasn’t anything interesting in the fridge either. We decided to go to Olive Garden for soup and salad, it was a good day for soup too. I don’t care if you are republican or democrat the medical insurance situation is crazy. If you don’t have any insurance the government pays, you just have to know how to work the system, that’s what my unemployed patients tell me. But trying to figure out what is the right policy for me has been quite the challenge. Bill figured out his plan pretty easily but I take a lot of prescription medicines. Regence is the company we have been looking at mostly because we can choose our own doctors, but they have discontinued all of their policies that pay any part of brand name medicines. They will only pay a percentage of generic medicines. This is a very big deal so Bill’s spread sheet is getting very complex as he considers all the policies and which one will best suit my needs.
Tuesday November 30th : Bill is still working on that spreadsheet, he adds new parameters to it all the time, things like deductibles, co-pays, medications which gets into generics and brand name drugs. The paper work said they covered a group of nonformularly drugs, so he called and asked what a nonformularly drug was, turns out it is aspirin. When he said the paperwork mentioned a list of nonformularly drugs and where could he go to see the list, he was told the list is aspirin. The whole maze is like that. I worked today and I feel like I am getting back in the routine. We cancelled family dinner tonight, Amanda is still sick and Becky and her boyfriend were celebrating his birthday.
Wednesday December 1st; I only worked a half day today. We were having staff training at lunch, so I stayed through that. The Kerr representative and brought in lunch and had a PowerPoint presentation about all the products he is selling now. I found it very interesting because there are some amazing new products available these days and most of the time they are used in the ‘dentist’ side and so I don’t always keep up with that information as much. It was also pretty cool that he had a big TV screen, a big one, 36 inch is my guess and he just hooked a cable up to the monitor and ran the whole show off his ipad. I left after lunch to go home and get ready for the teen feed. Yes, it was the last one for this year and Phyllis my ‘partner ‘ in this volunteer effort had done most all of the work this time. I just brought in the condiments and chips so it was way easier than usual for me. I had chosen to take a low profile because I didn’t have a clue how my health would be and especially my shoulder, but it is doing well and Bill washed the crock pots I brought home and Phyllis took the other two with her to clean up and get back to me later. Can you believe anyone has 5 crock pots and uses them all and actually has to borrow others from time to time.
Thursday December 2nd : knitting day. Yeah, I was so tired I could barely get up and dressed by 10 am for knitting circle at the LYS. I am trying to start a new sweater for myself and I have gotten distracted when I should have been counting and had to start over two times now. I think I am progressing this time, but then I put it aside to work on another Christmas present. I am getting most of my Christmas presents finished and then I decide that I should do one more project.
Friday December 3rd; Today Bill started working on the roof. He had to wait till it warmed up because at first the roof was a sheet of ice. (lots of moss + moisture + below freezing temps = ice) When he did get up on the roof he worked with a new power spray nozzle for probably three hours. When he finished he was totally exhausted. He could barely climb down off the roof and then he sat down to rest and he couldn't get up off the couch for the rest of the evening. While Bill was working on the roof I ran several errands. I am doing physical therapy twice a week for my shoulder and I needed to go to Costco to return a couple of things. Since I was there I pick up a couple of roasted chickens and some ribs also a piece of round steak to cut and freeze for later, in the crock-pot. When I went in to Costco it was daylight but when I came out it was pitch black and I'm thinking, I hope Bill is not still up on that roof, fortunately he had come in and was resting. I just served his plate and brought it to him. (Broccoli and mashed potatoes and roasted chicken) After dinner Bill said he was so wishing for mashed potatoes but he was too tired to call me and tell me that that's what he was hungry for. I am glad I could make him happy that easily.
Saturday December 4th; I worked at Dr S’ office today. My first patient came in with pink eye and glasses, thinking that would be protection….. Dr S told her we would have to reschedule her and then Donna and I spent time cleaning every surface in the office; the chair arms in the reception area, the counter at the front desk, stuff like that. The rest of the day was busy and uneventful. I went home at lunch and the roof was so frozen that Bill couldn’t get up there to finish his project. But the whole hose was frozen and his new nozzle was broken, split from freezing. He was pretty sad, but he thinks he can fix it. Bill was gone when I got home, he had a Christmas party to bartend so I turned on the electric blanket and got in bed and knitted to Christmas music for a while.
Sunday December 5th; Well today we went to McClendon’s, Bill’s favorite hardware store and he was able to find the exact part that had broken on his new power washer for about $12. I think he will be more careful next time. He was so glad to be able to fix it. So as you might guess he was back on the roof spraying and cleaning. We must have and awesome roof. This evening we watched another couple of episodes of Doc Martin this British television series we are streaming off of Netflix. It is cute and funny and we are getting a real laugh out of each one. Did I mention the television is working really well, the antenna seems to be good and streaming off the internet is great with the new computer and so far it has been pretty easy to do. Cool huh?
Monday December 6th; I woke up this morning about 7 and I didn’t hurt, not much and not anywhere. That was such a shock. It is just that I pretty much hurt somewhere all the time. I don't know why I felt so good today but I enjoyed it while it lasted, till lunch time. I met two girlfriends for lunch and something about sitting in that booth set my back to hurting and then after lunch was physical therapy and he did a lot of stretching to help release my shoulder muscles that are stiff and now I am sore all over again. Just the way it goes sometimes. This afternoon I decided it was time to do the holiday decorations. So I got out the Christmas dishes that were my mother’s before me and then dressed up the house for the holidays by spreading around my collection of Santa's. The nieces often help with this the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I had to go out of town so it didn’t get done at the normal time. Bill help put lights around the trunk of the big tree in the front yard and I have big lighted ornaments for that tree too but I didn't get them out today.
Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me. I would love to hear from you also so drop me a line at : celindakot@yahoo.com or my personal email address if you have it.
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