I love that dog

Here is Wallace showing how much he loves me.  He is sound asleep using my shoes as a reminder that he loves to be near me!!
Not much new on my end.  I have been kind of marking time in some ways.  Can hardly wait to see everyone for Christmas, especially those little ones from South Bend.  It has been 4 months so I may not know who they are as they probably are so big now. 
I have gotten some work done in the house in preparation for Christmas.  I will share the details later. 
It seems like yesterday day that I had the open house and here it is a week ago so there again time flies when you are having fun.  I finally got the last of the things put away yesterday, things that are used only for parties etc.  Of course I again will get them out when Christmas comes. 
I did drive down to Burnsville today as that is now the closest woodworking store.  Well actually there is one in Bloomington but I like the one in Burnsville better.  While I was there I stopped in at the Burnsville shopping mall.  I think that is the first time I have been there.  I remembered our friends Marty and Dick Weber while I was there.  For some reason that was Marty's favorite place to shop.  Both of them died at a fairly young age several years ago.  Marty had some illness that caused her finger to just shrink and disappear kind of.  I remember how brave she was and how difficult it was for her to go places but she did get to all of her son's soccer games etc.  Times past, wow the memories are there for sure.
I did get over to John Krause's place tonight as some of us helped him get much junk out of his garage.  It is in my pick up now and will drive it out to the junk place tomorrow.  It was nice to help him get some of that stuff out of the place.  As I was driving home I thought about the attic in the garage and the fact that it is now clean--- so so thankful for the energy and means to get that done this fall.
Enough for now as it is way way way past my bed time.

A new day and all is white

Here is Niles Ave looking east towards St. Kate's.  The snow ended about 4:00 PM or so on Saturday and this picture is at about 4:00 PM Sunday.  No sign of snow plows yet.  As I write today there has been some plowing which means one can drive (carefully) on Niles.  The day is bright and COLD.  Not really as cold as the forecast said but at about -7 with a breeze it reminds one that winter is here.
Not much planned for the day.  Will have to get out and about later today as I have been home since Friday AM and it seems like I need to get some fresh air and new scenes.  Not that I don't like my home but enough is enough so will venture out later this morning.  Maybe I can find something to shop for even though I am pretty much finished with Christmas shopping.  Fleet Farm sounds kind of inviting.  I enjoy looking at the sporting goods and farm toys.  Maybe I should pick up an international M tractor just like the good old days!!  No I guess I am beyond that so will look at something else.  Anyway my driveway is shoveled and the street is kind of passable so will get out to rid myself of this "closed in" feeling. It actually would not be a bad idea to go for a walk but I think I will ride bike inside for exercise today.
I did finish picking up the house yesterday as party things were all over the place.  Got the table back in place, the card table down, the dishes washed and now it is what do I do with the left over pop and candy??  I could save it for when John/Mary come but I kind of think they may not want the kids to feast on that kind of stuff.  If I do that they may not want to come back to visit and that would be bad.
I think I may jump on the bike for a while, shower after that and head out to Fleet Farm to see if I can spend a dollar or two.

A party--A storm-A time to relax

Wow so much in so little time over these last 48 hours. 
To start out the open house was a success.  I am guessing about 40 people came to enjoy goodies, the season spirit and wonderful conversation.  We had too much food but why would one complain about that??  Cynthia's lefsa was again a hit as the picture shows.  Faustina and Mary Oberg became great friends and I did not get a picture of Jude but he had to be the hit of the party.  With his chubby legs, his famous smile and then running around in his diaper showing off his figure he was a hoot!!  I was happy the storm held off as 40 people over night---I don't think so!!!
I woke up to much snow yesterday.  I am guessing the yard stick is pretty much proof that we got about 19 inches.  I put the yard stick down until I hit the old hard snow so it is real.  As I write this morning, Sunday, I am the only one with a shoveled walk on my side of the street.  I have my driveway open but the street is about impassible so it is once again home alone for the day.  Wallace was so good as he did not want to venture out into the snow to do his business but he did and you can see that he and I could play house out there as the path to the garage is deeper than he is tall. 
The storm is kind of nice.  No mail, no paper and no company.  That means I can do computer work, read, watch TV, sit and think, pray, take a nap and all is fair play as the outside is off limits for now.  Don't start the car, don't venture out in the -30 degree wind chill, just hang out in the house and pretend that one is on vacation.  I did forget but maybe I should turn off the ringer on the phone.  I do know without a doubt that this kind of mini-vacation makes sisters Helen and Joan want to live in the midwest again!
With this snow and cold I am beginning to think about a possible vacation in January where I could stop at Helen/Mike's for a time, go to Flordia and visit a couple of friends who spend part of the winter there and then drive back and spend time in South Bend and Madison.  If I do that I would need to be back for Grandma Saunder's birthday February 5 but 4 or 5 weeks in warmer weather sounds kind of fun. Maybe??  It would be pretty exciting to put the bike in the car and head out to places one could ride.  Oh I almost forgot I suppose I would need to see if Helen/Mike are going to be home as they travel sometimes.   Anyway it is nice to dream and we will see.
No I had better see if there is any food in this house.

A party today

Here is the picture of the shoes from our open house last year.  We will see who comes this year.  I hope some neighbors and friends show up so we can laugh, share and get to know each other better.  Last year I met some people I had never talked to and that was fun.  If only Gail could be here to enjoy---but we will have fun and we will share memories of times past.  As I look at my life today and look at it a year ago I feel that I am ready to move on with happy memories and an excitement for the future.  I know that I will have to do that with dishes in the sink sometimes, dust under the table for sure, a bed that is made but looks like a man made it, grand-kids who love grandpa but miss grandma so much even though they do not realize it and perhaps most of all a heart that is healed to the point that only occasionally does it seep loneliness and emptiness.
I do think it may be time here to get some more work done.  The den is still a mess, the living room is not ready for a party and in general the entire house shouts with a loud voice "A man has prepared this place for Christmas and it is lacking MUCH!!!"  I had better be thankful for that "whoever" that left some goodies, some Kona coffee and some beautiful wreaths that are now on the front of the house.  I guess to be honest I am happy with what is done in the house and I know that the people are the most important so all is good.  Anyway it is what it is and tonight should be a fun time. 

Happy Birthday John

 Forty-one years ago John came into our lives and of course things were never the same in a good way.  He always had a way of reving things up, making things happen, exploring the new, doing things differently and in general making family interesting, fun, loving and new.  Today of course he has a wonderful family, is practicing being a super husband and father and as always makes his dad (and of course in the past his mother) proud of him.  Each of my children, in their own way, are creative, fun, loving and precious but today I salute you John as one of the BEST!
I continue to prepare for the open house Friday.  I brought some coffee to Cynthia this morning to thank her for the goodies on the deck but she said they were not from her.  So someone out there thinks I need help in Christmas goodies and decorations and they may be right.  Who ever left things on the deck for me a huge THANK YOU and next time let me know who you are so I can thank you in person.
I put the lights on the tree this morning so now must arrange them and get some decorations up.  I am not making a big deal of Christmas decorations but need to do a few things. 
I pray this Advent season will be great for all.

A relearning of a life lesson--AGAIN

Here we are on a Monday morning.  Another weekend is in the books and we are ever so close to Christmas.  Seems that Christmas now comes more than once a year the time flies by so fast!
I had an uneventful weekend but I did relearn a life lesson.  One should not have expectations of others for many reasons.  I went into more than one situation last weekend with expectations.  Of course when a person does that more often than not the other person or persons do not know what is on your mind.  When that happens of course things will not happen as one wants or thought they should.  Let down!!!  What I am talking about was not life changing, not terribly disappointing, not really that important but still when things happen like that they tend to be a bit of a downer.  So as I was in bed last night thinking of the day I was able to realize that what I had experienced was really a short coming on my part.  I know and I realize that I should go into social situations or family situations or what ever with things in mind that I need to give or things in mind that I need to do but to have expectations of others is a recipe for failure as all too often expectations are not met or not even possible.  And even more they many not even be right!   So as I slept last night I asked for grace to change, to realize that my shortcomings come all too often.
I am looking at some work that needs to be done before my open house on Friday.  Not a lot but some cleaning, some decorating, some ordering of things that need to be done.  It will be interesting and fun to see if the open house this year is as successful as last year.  I hope it is as people who came last year seemed to have fun and enjoy gathering, talking, sharing and having treats and eats that went with the season.
I do have a breakfast get together this morning at 7:15 with Jim C.  It seems like we have not gotten together for some time but we have tried to do it monthly. 
In the family we have John's birthday Wednesday.  It is so hard to believe that Gail's little red head and my little boy arrived 41 years ago.  Gail was so so ready to be a mother and oh my goodness she did such a wonderful job.
Maybe I will make myself some french press coffee before I meet Jim as we are going to a place where the coffee would be a B- at best.

Time goes just too fast

Here it is Friday and it seems that I blogged only yesterday but it really was Sunday.
The week has gone very fast.  What have I done???

• I have been able to ride bike indoors each day for about 30 min or so
• Had 2 breakfasts out with friends
• Had 5 guys over for meditations Thursday at 6:00 AM
• Cynthia/Mike/Faustina and Jude have been here since Wednesday afternoon as they are having some work done on their wood floors.  The smell is too strong to stay there.  They may be here tonight again.
• I totally finished my Christmas shopping
• Have gotten out the invitations for my open house next Friday
• Have gotten out about 15 Christmas cards so far.  At this point I will send out cards as I get some

I guess that is the bulk of what I have done.  I can not believe how fast the time flies.  Here we are at December 3 already and almost finished with the first week of Advent.
Not too much more to say.  I do need to do some serious work in the house before my friends/neighbor open house next Friday but that is a week away so do have some time.  Before that I need to get the tree in and put up some decorations so a person knows that Christmas is coming.  Of course that is a VERY strong point in my skills so I am sure when all is finished it will look really really nice. NOT    Really it is not that bad but it always was Gail's thing and I never helped too much but one can always learn new things.  I think last year it turned out not too bad.
Enough