"Normalcy" is Returning

Returning to work this week wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I remembered almost all of my passwords and the daily routine soon came back to me. Of course there were the endless e-mails, most of which I could just delete, but some of which required attention. There was good news in one -- my nephew's fiance' got a job at the hospital at the emergency department reception area. It's part time and I think this will be great for her to get out and meet new people and make new friends in our community. I look forward to having her join our staff. It took a few days to work up to staying up until 10. After the first day of work, I was fighting sleep at 8:30 and it was all I could do to say up until 9. On Tuesday evening I tackled my favorite task -- getting groceries as we didn't even have an egg in the house and I needed to make sure there were things for Mike to grab for lunch when I'm not there. Wednesday came and I casually mentioned to Mike that I would like to get the materials for Gabby's closet "sometime" -- how about tonight? He agreed and so we jumped in the truck (another favorite -- a ride in the truck! Not so much!) and headed towards Menards. I had an advantage since I had researched online just what I wanted and what stores carried what lines. Menards had three different manufacturers with three different price points. The Easytrack system was the one I wanted but they didn't have the white shelving (which is the least expensive). I knew from online browsing that Fleet Farm did carry this system as well so we thought we would check it out. We got lucky and found everything we needed there and it was on sale.


Wednesday night Mike asked me if I would consider taking Friday off and accompanying him to his Aunt Alice's funeral in St. Paul. His original plan was to take off Thursday afternoon and go to the visitation with his brother Jeff and sister Diane. Then he talked to his Aunt Rosie on the phone and she guilted him into also coming to the funeral so he thought about just staying Thursday night after the visitation at Jeff's and then driving up for the funeral on Friday. In giving it more thought he decided to get a full day's work in on Thursday and go up on Friday for the funeral. I kind of hated to take a day off work since I just got done taking 10 days off but I'm glad I did. Alice was a very kind, loving and selfless person who gave so much of herself to her family, to God and to the world. The funeral was a small one with mostly family. There were a few people from the church and hospice facility she had been living at prior to her death.

The church, St. Odilia's, was a different sort of church. It was one of those that you can look around for the tabernacle but never seem to find it. Hmmmmm. I will say the choice of songs was very nice. It turns out that Alice had a fondness for St. Francis so one of the songs was Prayer of St. Francis. At the last family reunion in August, Alice wanted us all to sing and so Rosie handed out the words and music to Prayer of St. Francis and we all sang it together. It also evoked a memory of just a little more than a week ago when our tour group was at the Basilica of St. Francis and Deb Haugen and I spearheaded the singing of Prayer of St. Francis at our mass there. I asked Fr. Miller if we could "pretty please" sing it at mass and Deb ran into the gift shop and generously bought 30 little prayer cards to remind us of the words. Father Miller started us off during communion and the song rang out right there in the chapel at the basilica. I have to say St. Francis holds a special place for me as well -- something in common with Alice and now I can think of her fondly whenever I contemplate on the works of St. Francis.

This weekend has been one of a little frustration. Saturday's cleaning started and I kind of got fed up with it all. Somehow I had this vision of what life would be like once the kids were grown -- my house would surely not get messy. I would have no bottles, diapers, toys or bookbags to clean up. It should just be the everyday things like junk mail, laundry, dishes and typical dust here and there. That is not what my house looks like with just the three of us here and unfortunately, I am the only one this bothers! I keep thinking that sometime in the future things will change but then I remember that's what I used to think years ago and nothing's changed. Mike will probably read this and tell me that if only I would ___________ (fill in the blank with something he thinks I should change about myself) this would all be much better. He and Gabby usually end up cracking jokes about the way I make such a big deal about a neat and tidy house and organized life or commiserating about what a bi*** I am and how miserable I make THEIR lives. (Maybe my mother was right about having an even number in the family -- it's always two against one!)



Today was a better day because my Reedster came home as he does every Sunday. He arrives just before we leave for mass (which for us is about 7:10) and he checks all the pigs and does chores before we get home. Today he met us at the church and we went to breakfast at Hardee's. While we were eating I begged him to come back home after we were done and help his dear mother. Mike also mentioned that we had a closet that needed building. So upon getting back home Reed and I finished putting together the drawers and got out the materials that were in the starter kit while the other two took a nap. I miss having Reed around -- he is the "male" me. He is so much fun to work with. Between the two of us we can conquer almost anything, what with my brains and his brawn! Once we got to the starter kit, I came downstairs to wake the beast, (Mike) and ask for help. I looked at the directions and asked Reed to get the supplies we needed. As soon as Mike started saying, "Level? We don't need that!" I knew this might not be a great experience. I handed the directions to him and he browsed through them. Reed and I had basically set out the unit the way I wanted and so I went over with Mike what my end goal was and went downstairs. I left the guys alone to tackle the closet while I did some dishes, wiped down counters and surfed the net a bit. Mike then announced that it was time for me to tell him where I wanted the drawers and such. This required me to actually work with him. For those of you who know me -- I tend to actually follow directions as I believe that somebody actually wrote them for a reason. Mike on the other hand reads "IMPORTANT" and "OPTIONAL" to be synonymous. That being said, Reed stayed around until everything was complete -- probably to make sure we didn't bite each other's heads off. Everything got done though, not perfectly but it will suffice. Now Gabby and I need to tackle her clothing and organize it. This needs to get done before Friday as Micah is coming home and this closet remodel has kind of taken up the whole upstairs!

I almost forgot! The cold weather is definitely setting in. How do I know? I was tidying up my pantry this week and I saw...mouse tracks! I immediately retreated from the pantry until Mike came in the house that night. While he was in the house I cleared out the floor of the pantry of all the sacks and stuff and swept it thoroughly. I only found tracks on the floor, none on any of the shelves. The next day Mike set all the traps and set out poison in the garage as he believe that is where they are getting in. I haven't seen any actual live mice and hope not to! Maybe this will keep me from raiding the pantry during the evening in between commercials! I definitely don't want to bump into anything frightening in there!

Starting to wind down for today and "gear up" for the upcoming week. There are things to look forward to for sure. Micah is coming home for a long weekend, I am getting my hair done and who knows what else life will throw my way!