Warning, warning, this post is NOT about wine….the lovely beverage. If you have a low tolerance for self-pity and whining, read no further!
It’s that time of year. I become a boat widow for the 2009 season tomorrow morning at 4:30. Dear Husband has the boat ready to be towed to the yacht yard, to be craned into Lake Michigan.
I HATE the days when he has to tow the boat. The last two times he brought it home, he had tire disasters on the trailer. I have asked him to buy one more spare tire, but he feels that is an unnecessary purchase. He told me he has four new tires on the trailer, and a spare, and he feels that should be enough. I was so ticked that I told him not to call me if he got another flat tire. That sounds so harsh, but the entire situation worries me, and makes me angry. Second Son said he would keep his phone on, and I’ll give DH SS’s phone number.
SO….it’s time to be planning FUN WEEKENDS! Next weekend I plan to fit in a trip to see Angels and Demons. I love Tom Hanks, and I enjoyed the book. The following weekend, I’ll be taking a trip with Elegante Mother to see her youngest granddaughter graduate from high school. And some time after that, I hope to make a road trip to Iowa with Frankie. The Antique Market, the Farmer’s Market, perhaps a trip to the Art Institute in Chicago, are all on my list of things to do. I’m open to suggestion!
Wish DH luck tomorrow. Think positive thoughts for him, and if you pray, pray all morning, please! *G*

I seem to be adrift on the sea of my life. I surely need to make a choice and “Just Do It!” as Nike exhorts. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and bright. We should make it to the 70s following a gloomy, chilly, day of thunderstorms. A wise woman would be out there weeding, instead of sitting at the computer, given that more rain is coming for the next couple of days.
I had planned to move my quilting things from the bedroom to the newly renamed “Quilt Studio,” but I need to wait for Saturday for help with the heavy things. I need to move two tables and a shelving system, and one of my nephews is looking for a little work. I can’t send him out to mow, so he can help me make the move.
I had a grip on the office work, but there is always filing and bill paying, and things of that nature. I could be doing a little laundry, make my bed, vacuum, or even get a start on dinner, but none of that seems to interest me.
I’ve learned that sometimes I need to choose one thing, and that will lead to another, and another , and another, until most of the stuff is done. It’s that very first step that seems to be so difficult, and it’s made more difficult by the advent of the computer. I like to start my morning with an on-line crossword puzzle and my e-mail, and I’m finding it more and more difficult to walk away from the computer.
Addicted? Yeah, probably. I think I’ll go make my bed…..

For all my friends who are mothers, Happy Mother’s Day! I hope that your families are pampering you, and that you are enjoying a day of ease with beautiful weather.
Dear Husband and I will be going to visit with Elegante Mother shortly. I made a carrot cake in a bundt pan that has the look of a cathedral. I also made a pan of brownies, using the recipe that my mother always used. I thought she might enjoy the chocolate. (Don’t we all!?)
We’ll pick up a fruit tray that I ordered at the grocery store, and an orchid . Dear Husband found a wonderful card. I’m hoping that EM will enjoy being the center of attention, and have a good day.
So…go forth and have a GREAT DAY!

As the sun sets into the west….. (Can’t you hear that guy who used to narrate the Looney Tunes cartoons???)
What a weekend! It started with the cat waking me about thirty minutes early Saturday morning. Actually, that turned out to be a good thing. I might not have finished everything that needed to be done before I needed to arrive at Elegante Mother’s. I had to pack, start the dishwasher, feed the cat, and load the car. On the trip down I needed to shop for groceries for EM and make a stop at the bank for our company. I was there a few minutes early thanks to Ed.
Once we were on our own, we took off for the mall to get EM’s nails polished. That took less than 20 minutes, and we were hardly out of the nail salon when we smudged one of EM’s thumbnails. We went right back, and they corrected the problem in about 60 seconds! This time, we went and sat in the mall so that her nails had a chance to dry.
Last year my mother lost close to 30 pounds. She’s tiny, and weighed 128 so I suppose she could afford to loose a couple of pounds, but not THIRTY! She was down to around 100 pounds when she left the nursing home. She has resumed eating, so our next stop for the morning was to visit Carson’s to find some slacks with a more comfortable fit. We also found three pairs of Capri pants that were too cute to pass up, three pairs of earrings, three costume jewelry rings and a bracelet, and one embroidered t-shirt that goes with a sweater she already has! Because we used a Carson’s charge card, we received numerous discounts, and then they gave us another discount along the lines of “family and friends.” I think we paid less than half price for everything! There’s nothing EM loves more than shopping and getting a bargain!
We stopped in the mall to have lunch before taking all the loot back to the condo. We had time for a one hour nap, which we BOTH took, before we needed to drive north to meet six of the family for dinner. EM put away a corn muffin and a smoked salmon Caesar salad, and then tried to inhale an immense plate of bread pudding with ice cream and whipped cream. I was worried she was going to explode!
Dear Husband and I are fortunate to have an exceptionally talented grand nephew, who has participated in ten of his high school productions in the past four years. Last year he was incredible as “The Master of the House” in “Les Miserables.” Last night we got to see his final high school performance as Mr. McAfee (the Paul Lynde role) in “Bye Bye Birdie.” It was a hoot! We really enjoyed the evening. I really hope this young man will get involved in college musicals. He’s incredibly talented.
We made it home around 10:45. I helped EM dive into some jammies and she crashed for the night. I followed around 12:30. I woke at 6:30 and checked on her. She was still sound asleep. I tried working on the crossword puzzle, and finally decided to go back to bed for a bit. We were finally ready to start the day about 9:00.
Our first order of the day was lunch at Red Lobster. Mother truly loves lobster, but can only eat so much, so we order her one of the small lobster tails. I left all but one of the Cheddar Bay biscuits for her (I was afraid she’d break my hand, otherwise.) She asked to take them home with her so she could leave room for dessert! *G* She wanted to take her iced coffee with her when we left, but I told her we would stop at Starbucks.
It probably took us 20-25 minutes on the tollways to get to Morton Arboretum. We missed the peak display of the daffodils by a couple of days, but in return we hit the most gorgeous display of redbud, crabapple, and flowering shrubs that you can imagine. We drove the main trails on both the east and west sides of the arboretum, and it was like being at a ping pong tournament, with our heads swiveling right and left so as not to miss a thing.
EM loves her newspapers. When we left the arboretum, we stopped to pick up the newspaper, and then we headed to My-Sister-The-Nurse’s home. Her family was gathering for a special birthday dinner for her husband. She had all the preparations in hand, so we were able to sit out on the deck and chat for an hour before it was time to return to the condo.
We were rather surprised to find that Sophie had returned to the condo earlier than we had expected. Luckily, everyone knew her by sight, so the management was called to let her in. It’s a problem we will have to resolve before she goes on her next break.
I believe that my mother enjoyed the weekend. She was very disappointed when it was time for me to go, and leave her with Sophie. As much fun as we had, it’s clear that we wouldn’t be able to do this type of thing day in and day out. Unfortunately, each time we have these extended weekends, we get to see first hand how fast EM is changing, and we are very aware of the loss in logic,verbalization, and the ability to accomplish anything that involves multiple steps. We need to treasure these weekends with her, because it won’t be long before this particular setting won’t be possible, and she will have to return to a nursing home.
Bogie told me not to worry about the weeds in my gardens, that they would still be there waiting for me. She’s so right. Spending time with Mother is much more important.

This is my weekend for “Mom Duty.” Elegante Mother has moved to a condo halfway between my two older sisters, in the round the clock care of Sophie, a Polish lady. Sophie works for 13 days, and then has a little more than one day off, so we need to have someone stay with EM while Sophie is away. My-Sister-The-Nurse did the very first week, and Frankie did the second. It’s my turn at bat.
We have plenty planned. Tomorrow morning we will go to have her nails done, and then shop for several pairs of new slacks. We’re going to have a light lunch and fritter away a few hours before we meet the family for a very early dinner. We are going to go to a high school performance of Bye Bye Birdie, and the family will gather for dinner near the school. One of my grandnephews is performing, and this will be his final high school performance. I believe that he has been in every production the school has offered in the past four years. Last year he played “The Master of the House” in Les Miserables!
Sunday, I’ll let EM sleep in, and then I’ll take her to Red Lobster, so that she can have her beloved ,lobster. I plan to drive through Morton Arboretum, if she is up to it, and if not, we will sit around and read the Sunday papers.
Elegante Mother can’t be left on her own now. I worry that once she left her apartment she might not be able to find her way back, and we have not provided her with an ID bracelet yet.
We have had a week of rain, and this weekend would be the perfect time to pull the weeds I see sprouting in several of my gardens, but it will have to wait until Monday. Tuesday morning I have one of the two dentist visits that occur every year, and I can come home and do more weeding. I need to get it done before it totally gets away from me! The daffodils were gorgeous. Many of them are still blooming, and the tulips have opened.
Quilting bee met tonight for our May visit. I should have headed to bed long ago. It will be a busy day tomorrow.
I hope you’re all having a great spring!

I can’t remember if I’ve told you that DH and I are going to make the trip to Frankie’s this weekend. She has driven up here at least three times in the past six weeks, on EM business. Although the road runs both directions, Frankie and her family tend to drive up here more than we go to them.
There’s a good reason for us to go visit. Frankie’s birthday is Monday. I don’t believe in giving away age here. I think it’s enough that you now know it’s her birthday.
For the past ummmmm…X years, we have been going to visit with her on her birthday. She cooks and pampers us, and finds fun things to do. I’ve been saying to her, “Are you SURE this is how you want to spend your birthday, taking care of a bunch of couch potatoes?” I always get the same response: “Yes!” That is, until this year. This year she told me to bring my gardening clothes. We’ll go visit a really neat nursery and then come home and play in the dirt. Sounds like fun to me.
I think Frankie’s husband has things planned for Dear Husband. I don’t even want to contemplate what they are going to be up to. One year it was putting a new roof on the house.
Edward Scissorhands, our cat, is still going strong, but he will remain at home with our son. I don’t think a weekend is long enough for him to bond with their medium large sized dog. This will be a “just the two of us” drive.
So, I’ll be away for a few days, celebrating with my sis. I hope you all have a great weekend, and come through the very strange warm spell well!

C.C. ….. Frankie has made changes at Just My Opinion. I told her that some readers might have difficulty reading her blog, and she changed it for you. I know that the Lone Star background that used to be on my blog was a problem for some of you, so I shared that information with her. Maybe now you’ll be able to see what she’s up to.

What is is about having a cold that makes getting through the day so tough? Is it lack of oxygen? All I wanted to do was sit, covered with a quilt, and snooze or read a book. This morning was the first time that I’ve accomplished anything of note, so I’ve lost three days of my life!
Luckily, while I was busy vegging out, those around me were busy. My favorite landscaper visited with his crew, and cleaned out an area where I plan to plant a willow tree. They actually did more than I expected, for less than they originally proposed. They moved a beautiful viburnum for me that was dying for lack of light. And, they dug out the raised veggie beds for me, lined them to keep weeds from slithering in and making a home, and then refilled them with new dirt and compost! I can plant spinach immediately!
The early daffodils are all open, and the star magnolia is absolutely gorgeous! I’ll have daffs blooming for six weeks or so, as long as the weather is kind to them. I’ve been looking at catalogs and magazines, trying to decide what will be going in under the windows at the front of the house. I’m very drawn to a collection of coneflowers in the new colors and shapes, but I still have about three weeks to look before I make my final decision. As my brain clears out, perhaps I’ll be able to make better choices.
I need to collect myself and get on the road to visit EM. This is the weekend when her caregiver has part of Saturday and Sunday off. Frankie is doing the Mom-sitting this week. It’s my turn in two weeks. I hope that all my sisters will go to church together with EM and have lunch. It seems like a good thing to do for EM. We’ll see what the weekend brings.

I think I’m allergic to children five and under. Isn’t that awful!? We went to Florida the last week of February and spent several days with our granddaughters. Dear Husband was the first to fall, but we both came down with the same upper respiratory gunk that our littlest grand daughter had. It took weeks to get over it.
Saturday, we attended a first birthday party for one of my great nieces where there must have been easily a dozen children 5 and under, and Sunday we were with two five year olds and two one year olds. Monday…..I started hacking. Do you suppose I’ve been living in too rarefied air these past few years? You’d have think I’d have picked up some bug when I visited Elegante Mother in the nursing home.
At any rate….I’m having my pity day, and tomorrow I plan to get on with my life. It’s a gorgeous, sunny day today. It started out a little gray and just kept getting better as the day rolled on. We are expected to go from the mid to low forties to SEVENTY DEGREES by Friday…and then back down to the forties. My daffodils won’t know what hit them!
I have pots of Johnny Jump-Ups (mini Violas) to plant. Frankie selected four inch pots of purple and yellow flowers and used squares of plastic cut from a pink plastic table cloth, with pastel curling ribbons to create wrapping for the pots. These fresh little flowers graced the tables on Easter. I plan to transplant them this week into pots for the front entryway.
I’m SO glad that taxes are over. I’ve mailed those that have to be mailed, and provided e-forms for those that need to be sent electronically. I’ve even made the first of the estimated payments, and noted when the rest are due on the calendar! We’re cooking with gas! It’s good to have that nasty chore done.
I hope you have all made it through Tax Day unscathed, and can enjoy the beautiful Spring weather!