Parents Weekend a Success

Well, I made it through another work week, survived my physical and mammogram and even faced the scale at Weight Watchers Wednesday night and fared better than anticipated. Thursday evening meant an informational meeting in Clear Lake for the permanent deaconate. Mike and I walked in the parish hall at the church, looked around and then at each other both thinking, "Oh, crap! We're the only ones here!" As I turned around I was happy to see Glen Kiss stroll in soon after to be followed by Chris Clark. While visiting with the fellow deacons present, I noticed a familiar face. One of the deacon's wives used to be a Matern and I called her on it. She was flattered to hear me say she looks just like her mother! Her mother, Dorothy, was a very dear and faithful woman and she should consider that a compliment. Before the meeting started, Father Tilp strolled in and noticed Mike and said, "What are you doing here? You gettin' the 'bug'?" I know some people really don't care that much for Father Tilp but Mike and I are more familiar with the younger version when he was full of zeal and maybe a little bit of something else. The meeting did yield a lot of information and gave Mike something to ponder. (Just what he needs, one more thing to think about!)

Friday arrived and I carried about my normal Friday schedule for the morning and left work at 12:30ish. From then I came home to get packed to head to Dubuque. Upon arriving home, I thought I would have some crackers and cheese for lunch. I opened the pantry door and oooo...what a stink. At first I thought I had a rotten potato but upon further inspection, there was something dead and furry with a long tail stuck to the sticky trap. I IMMEDIATELY texted Mike for HELP! About 5 minutes went by and he came walking in the door. He said he noticed the smell a little when he grabbed some cereal this morning and thought the potato thing as well. He can't believe he missed it because he said he looks at that trap every day. Well, that makes mouse #2 and I am getting worried! I most definitely do NOT want to go down the basement!

Since Mike was in the house, we threw a few things in the suitcase and headed off to Dubuque. I kind of wanted to get there earlier this year as I wanted to go to the Dueling Pianos which started at 7. We made it in time to go to Mario's Italian restaurant and then headed to the Dueling Pianos. It was good entertainment but when I listen to that kind of thing, I'm used to being in a bar and Loras does not have a liquor license, ya know. I could have really used a couple drinks and some munchies while listening! After the "concert" Micah headed back to his room and we headed to the hotel. We popped open a bottle of wine and kind of had the munchies. Mike headed out to see what he could scrape up and came back with some cheese and crackers. The problem then was...how do we slice the cheese? That Mike, he just has an answer for everything... dental floss. Sounds weird but it worked just fine and to think, he wasn't even a boyscout!

Saturday morning we picked up Micah and went for breakfast to Perkins. The Perkins in Dubuque had been closed for remodeling all semester. It looked a lot better, they got rid of that frosted glass that divided the previous "smoking/non-smoking" sections. The food was good too. After that we did a little shopping, Mike went to buy a Garmin since we left ours with Gabby in Virginia and I went on the lookout for some fabric for a project at church. No luck on the fabric but Mike did acquire a new Garmin.

After the shopping excursion was over, we dropped Micah off at his dorm and headed to the hotel for a little nap before we went to the open house at his LODs program. After the open house we had a little supper and then Micah had to go and get ready for the Dessert Show. That show is kind of like the coffee house concert that we had at school. Some of the kids do some solos, duets or ensembles, the jazz band plays and the choirs all perform one song each. This year we saw familiar faces and recognize how the "kids" have grown and matured since last year. There is some really great talent there.

Sunday morning came and we went to the 10 a.m. mass at Christ the King Chapel. It was a nice mass and Fr. Joensen is a good speaker although quite the intellectual and I really had to concentrate on his message. We went to Olive Garden for lunch and then went back to Micah's dorm room as he said he had cleaned it up. It was time for the "white glove test". Mike and I wanted to change our clothes anyway so it was the perfect chance to inspect. All in all, it was much better than I expected. Aside from some miscellaneous garbage and his laundry which he was going to do that afternoon as he usually does, it was pretty good. He even dusted!

While we were out with Micah one evening, we got the dreaded text from Gabby -- she just had a mouse run across her living room floor and it is time for drastic action! I can't believe it took this long for her to see one after all the droppings we saw when moving her in! I hope once Mike and Dan get there they can help her seal up the house a little and get the problem under control!

This week brings poor Reed getting his wisdom teeth out on Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to it so I can imagine how he must feel. I waited until I was 40 for mine to come out so it is still "fresh" for me. All I can say is -- drugs are sometimes a very good thing.