A beautiful sunny day...

...on the heels of bitter cold and snow. We are down to icy sludge mostly now, although our yard is always one of the last ones to see the snow melt away.  The hill in front of our driveway is still a little treacherous, but it will be cleared by today if the temps reach close to 50 like they're saying.

  A little sunshine goes a long way.  lol

  Been a long week. I got home Friday evening, after making the trip down to the memorial service for my aunt and my niece's birthday too. I got her her first "real" jewelry box (i.e. NOT one with Hello Kitty on it) and a pair of birthstone earrings  (garnet) that are dragonflies.  She loves dragonflies. After all, she IS 9 now....lol

  It was a bittersweet trip...a blessing to see so many of my aunt's friends turn out to say their goodbyes, and a lot of family members as well. I was taken aback by the sudden (to me) descent of one of my aunts into Altzheimers..she couldn't think of who I was...and it broke my heart, watching her struggle, trying to pull something up out of her memory.  Something in me hated that it was me she couldn't remember, and not either one of my brothers sitting next to me.  On a brighter note, they had several picture boards and I got to see some great pictures of my parents and all the brothers and sisters of my dad's family, and most of them I hadn't seen before. Pictures of the 3 sisters as cheerleaders at their high school...must have been in the 40's. A picture of my uncle Will in his paratrooper uniform, right before he was shot down and killed in WWII. A picture of my grandmother and her brother as children, that no one but me seemed to know who they were, or had seen that picture before.  (I have that picture too).  All in all, a wonderful trip down memory lane.

  The snow came later there than it did here and we drove into the worst of it on the way to the funeral home. But it all worked out okay, and I went to dinner with my brothers and their wives after the service. That was nice. I forget sometimes how funny my brothers are...The next day, I stayed at my youngest brothers for most of the day and decided to leave in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to drive too much in the dark,. They were predicting a little more snow, and I thought better safe than sorry.  It was a pleasant and uneventful trip, both ways. 

   My nephew is holding his own. They had a big blood drive in Florida yesterday to help repay the blood bank for all the 15 pints he was given and I guess they had a great turnout. He is waking up and he kissed  his wife when she asked him to. He is on a lot of pain medication still, so a bit wonky, but the other drugs they were using to keep him fully sedated are gone, so that's a big deal.  I haven't heard a word from my own sister about anything since the first day it happened, so it's a good thing I can keep in touch with my niece.  This is nothing new on her part. She said she would stay in touch and she didn't and that's pretty much par for the course. She is how she is and that's all I can say about it all. I tell myself it's a tough time and it is..but she calls others and talks to them, so....nothing new under the sun, as they say.

  I made the Irishman a big breakfast this morning of Denver omelets and fresh fruit and biscuits. He has a District Meeting today (he is now DCM--a promotion from Alt. DCM when the regular guy had to have his work schedule changed). His home group meeting ends 2 hours before the District meeting, so he won't drive all the way back home, and I won't see him again until after 8 tonight when I get home.  Sooo...it's just me and the critters here lazing around the house. 

  This place is such a mess, I almost need to hire help to get it cleaned up. (Or get off the computer and get busy).  Nawww....  lol   I am going to do some stuff today, but not kill myself with it. I have some laundry to do that I might start. And maybe run the vacuum...just to freak out the dogs. lol  Then tomorrow I could take the vacuum to the shop, because it is not running right...it's not the motor, but the rolling wheels or something. It likes to hang up on the carpet...and the whole thing needs a tune-up and a cleaning.

  The weather is doing a crazy upswing and supposed to be back in the fifties tomorrow.  (Shaking her head...) This is just so wrong....

  I can't find a suitable picture for the blog this morning, and I guess if that's as bad as it gets, I'm gonna have a good day. lol  Nothing just seems right, so I guess I'll go back through and look again...

  Hope everyone has a peaceful Sunday.

  That's MY plan....

  Namaste.