Finally Tuesday is Over!

So here is how my day went yesterday:

I taught from 10-2 (not that bad).
I went to print something off the computer at work. Through many complications and really desiring to shout obscenities, 45 minutes later, I had my 11 page document. Then I had to wait for the really slow copier to make 20 copies. (I'm spoiled by the one at MSU -- it's super fast!)
On my way home, I decided to take the back way home to help me relax and unwind a bit. Not such a good idea. A car in front of me stopped to try and make a left turn. I was in the left lane and couldn't move to the right due to bus coming up behind me, so I also stopped. So did the young girl in the Jeep behind me. However, the older woman in the car behind her didn't. The next thing that I saw was the jeep spinning around behind me and ending up in a ditch while the other car spun to the other side of the road. I was almost hit! I hung around long enough to make sure no one was hurt then headed home. (there were lots of bystanders.)
So I get home, grab a bit to eat then head outside to finish mowing the lawn. But the lawn mower didn't really want to cooperate with me. It kept stalling --- perhaps since the grass was three feet long and a bit damp. After much toil, the grass was done. --- On to the trimming. We have an electric trimmer, which means wrestling a cord around the yard, which doesn't like to stay plugged in. But after about and hour of trimming, the end was in sight. Only about six feet left to go and .... Shoot! I ran out of string!

However, the night did end on a high note. About 10pm Joel and I saw a commercial for wings. So we decided to go ahead and ordered some. Yummy wings and breadsticks at 10:45 at night!!

But we all woke up happy this morning. Thank goodness for new days!

Thank goodness for little Puppies

ahhh....Joel and I just got home from my grandpa's funeral. Things went well. There was a good turn out at the viewing and for the funeral. It was nice to catch up with all of my family. The two sides of my family are pretty close, so it was nice to see everyone there.

My grandma is doing ok. She forgets things very easily and gets lots of things confused, but she's hanging in there. Thank goodness she has her little puppy Missie to keep her company. I'm not sure what she'd do without that dog. But it will be a long road for her to get back to life as normal. My grandpa took care of all the financial stuff and a lot of the physical stuff like vacuuming that was too difficult for her to do. So how she has to re-learn a lot and wait on other people to come over and do things for her.

This was the first time that I really wished that I lived closer to my family. My grandma can be pretty stubborn, but she listens to me pretty well. So I think my mom and aunts will be "hoping" that I can come down and help them out with her. My grandma and I pretty close, so I probably will be going home more often.

But the good news is that Tony is sending Jennifer and Olivia to stay with my mom until the end of May when they were planning to come up. So Jennifer and Olivia arrive on Sunday afternoon. My mom and dad are so excited about having Olivia at their side for a whole month! Hopefully I'll get to see her lots too!

I also need to publicly thank Joel for all his help with weekend. He helped me with a lot of jobs that everyone (including us) was too tired to do --- cooking, going to the grocery store, taking Gramma to pay bills. He was wonderful!

Happiness and Sadness

This weekend/beginning of the week has brought much happiness and much sadness. The weekend was wonderful. My mom came up for the weekend. We went to a 3D IMAX movie on Life Under the Sea which was very interesting. Riverview's Easter service was great and we had 13 people over for Easter dinner (see Joel's blog for pictures).

But the sadness came on Monday night about 11pm when I got a call from my dad saying that my grandpa had died. He had spent the day mowing the lawn and had when back out to the shed to do a couple of things. When he didn't come back in, my grandma went out to look for him and found him laying in the grass. They rushed him to the hospital where the doctors worked on him for quite awhile, but he passed away. I haven't heard much more of the details, but I'm sure it had something to do with his heart.

The visitation is on Thursday and the funeral is on Friday.

What a week!

Wow. This week was jam-packed.
Monday --- Small group --- always a blast
Tuesday --- Joel and I watched TV in bed from 6pm till we fell asleep at 10. Don't you love days like that!
Wednesday --- Hung out with the girls while the guys played poker. These nights kind of remind me of hanging out with pals in college.
Thursday --- cleaned the house all evening, washed clothes, etc.
Friday --- went to see Benchwarmers. What a great movie. I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time. Plus it actually has a great message.
Saturday --- Joel and I didn't have anything planned for the day, so we made a trip to Birch Run --- the best outlet mall. I got a skirt for $1.47, dress pants for $3.48 and $4.98 and $14.99. Joel got about 4 polos for $4-$6 each. I love shopping with prices like that! Then we ended the evening at Applebees to celebrate Deb's completion of her boards to become an optometrist. Another great evening of hanging out with pals.

Then there was today. Today was the ONE service for Riverview at the Wharton center at MSU. We rented it out so that we could have the whole Riverview community at one service. But that means that all the kids are at one service.... I was in charge of the Pre-K through 2nd graders --- I had 100 kids. But is that better than Tricia who had 60 1-3 year olds or Susan who had 20 babies? I'm not sure which was worse. But we all made it through and the kids had fun. But now I'm incredible tired. I think I'm going to go relax.

6 hours is way to long...

I just spent six hours in the car all by myself. It's not fun spending six hours in the car alone. But it is over.

I went to Indiana today to a college roommate's bridal shower. It was fun to see her again. I was hoping some of my other college friends would be there, but no such luck. Still my friend was greatly appreciative that I drove three hours down and three hours back just to see her for 1.5 hours.

But, hey, what are friends for?!?

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Oops! We've got April flowers! The crocuses that Joel and I planted this fall have come up and bloomed. They are very cute! Our tulips are coming up nicely also. It's so nice to see signs of spring!

Joel gave me the greatest news this morning! He called me when he discovered that the FM sports radio station he listens to has changed to an oldies station. Finally!!! I was so sad when Lansing changed its oldies station to a classic rock station about six months ago. But now Oldies are back and I'm much happier! (...cause that is what life is all about right, making Wendy happy:) )