Last weekend was spent getting ready for my family to return for the Easter holiday. Micah hasn't been home for what seems like forever and Gabby hasn't been home since October. I wanted to make sure the house was tidy, warm and cozy for them upon their arrival. Saturday the weather forecast was initially for a beautiful warm, sunny day but it turned out foggy, cloudy and cold. Mike went to a men's retreat in Cedar Rapids and I was prepared to get a lot done but the only thing I got done was some laundry and mixing up some cookie dough and staying warm. Reed and I did go out for some supper and got some groceries but that was about the extent of it. Sunday came and I got a bit more done in the way of cleaning getting the cookies actually baked and some yardwork. Reed started mowing the first time this year.
I muddled through my three days of work the Catholocism class on Monday night, baking on Tuesday night for the hospital's Relay for Life bake sale on Wednesday and getting through Wednesday at work, weighing in at Weight Watchers after work and heading up to the airport to pick up Gabby. I thought Wednesday would never come! Mike and I picked her up, stopped and got her a bite to eat and headed home. We all hit the pillows at 1 a.m. and at 1:30 a.m. Mike's pager went off and he was off on ambulance runs until I don't know what time. Needless to say he was just a little tired on Thursday.
Thursday morning came and Gabby and I got up, showered and hit the road for Cedar Falls/Waterloo. First we had to stop and see Grandma though. My mom has missed Gabby so much. We visited briefly and hit the road as we were off to Janesville to stop and see that new baby, Ellyn. We wanted to get in a little cuddle time before the weekend when there would be major competition in the cuddling department. She is a doll -- looks just like her daddy when he was a baby. Gabby and I visited her until probably 1:30 or so. We left there and I found a text on my phone from Fr. Huber wanting to know what our plans were for the day. So we headed to Hudson to close Gabby's bank accounts and then met him at Applebees where we had a snack, visited and watched the Cubs game together. He shared his pics of his recent Rome trip, anecdotes of his family and generally picked on each other as we typically do. We had a good visit and had to end too soon as he had to go get his homily ready for that night's mass and we had to visit more of Gabby's friends and then end up at the Olive Garden to have dinner with a few more of them. After dinner we then went to Gilbertville for Holy Thursday mass. After mass we hit the road and headed home. We were so busy visiting friends we didn't even have time to shop! I only got a few things for church decorating at Hobby Lobby -- boring!
Good Friday arrived and we spent the day doing laundry and going to church in the afternoon. I received a phone call from my mom when we got home asking me if I could wash her windows before the baby shower which was to be at her home the next day. I also had to make dill pickle spread for the baby shower and get planters ready for the church. Pressure!!! So Gabby and I headed to the grocery store to get groceries for Easter and then we went to my folks' where I washed windows. Hers are easy to wash as they don't require a ladder to do any of them. Once I was about done, I called Mike and the boys and they brought in our tables and chairs to Mom's for Easter and then we went out for meatless pizza at Titanium Lunchbox.
Saturday arrived and the morning was spent getting the church to look "just so" for Easter. The lillies were delivered as well as the grass in glass planters for the window sills. After much arranging and re-arranging, the committee and I left the church feeling quite satisfied.
After a slightly sleepless night spent wondering everything would go as planned for mass in the morning and thinking about what time I needed to put the cheesy potatoes in for Easter dinner, etc..., we had a great Easter. The mass was fantastic and we ended up celebrating Easter with about 500 people receiving the Eucharist. It was a scramble to set up chairs and the video at the last minute but everyone worked together and made little work of it all. The church looked breathtaking, the choir did a wonderful job and Fr. Miller, as usual, did an absolutely awesome job. I would pay money to watch that man incense an altar. He does it with such glory and authority, none of that "namby-pamby" waving of the incensor. I'm thinking that the man is also probably pretty good with a yo-yo. It was absolutely invigorating.
Easter dinner was a smashing success at my parent's house. We had what looked to be a mountain of food, but had little to no leftovers. I guess that's what happens when all of the little boys grow into teenagers and young men!
This week our lives had to return to normal again. Mike took Gabby to the airport on Monday (sniff-sniff). Hopefully someday she can find a job in the state of Iowa and be closer to the family once again.
Reed went back to work and works full-time now doing dorm cleaning and mowing the lawn at NIACC. He likes to do the lawn mowing over the dorm cleaning any day but who can blame him! He also got a car of his own now. We have been looking for a reasonable used car for quite some time and finally found one. He is now the proud owner of a silver 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix. That should save a little on the gas compared to the Dodge Ram he had been driving to work.
Mike had had some tooth trouble last week. On the Thursday before Easter, he was loading hogs and was lifting up on a gate at the same time a pig's snout pushed up on the same gate which proceeded to hit him under his chin, causing him to chip a few teeth. He said it was so painful that he actually thought he lost a tooth entirely but instead just spit out a few chips. He went to the dentist on Good Friday for an emergency visit and got them sealed until he could come back for a real fix. The fix happened this week and now his smile is beautiful once again. Hopefully over the years those teeth that were traumatized won't "go out" and need root canals.
This week we are preparing for the hospital's open house of the new addition. I haven't been in the addition for a couple months so I can't wait to see the finished product. I was asked to provide "background music" on the piano for the open house. Connie Swanson and I will be trading off every half hour or so so that we don't wear our hands out (and run out of music!). Our hospital's "name" is also changing so that I have to learn to answer the phone with "Good Morning. Thank you for calling Hancock County Health Systems. How may I direct your call?" Our "color" has also changed from burgundy to a royal blue, or what I call "Don Bosco blue". I guess it will bring out my blue eyes when I wear the new hospital polo shirt!
I also got our taxes mailed in on Friday -- yuck! At least that's done for another year though.
Time to rest up and start another week. Hopefully I can update this blog a little more frequently after this!
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