Thanksgiving week!

This is my favorite week of the year. I love love love the short work week and the feeling in the air. It is the beginning of the holiday season and it is all about family, friends and food.
Jack and I are coming off a most productive weekend. On Friday, we finished up watching the last four episodes of  Breaking Bad. That was productive, right?? It did not disappoint. On Saturday, we spent pretty much the entire day cleaning house, getting ready for hosting Thanksgiving. It felt so good! I did not even go out of the house until we left around 6 to go to Bucky's house for dinner. I had on my big puffy winter coat, not realizing that the temperature was around 50 degrees!! We had fun dining with my father-in-law. I made pork chops, asparagus and brownies and Jack got a couple of twice baked potatoes from Whole Foods. Fun and realxing. On Sunday, we went to 7am mass, then got back to work on Thanksgiving prep. We were in bed by 8:30 pm!
Today the weather started out warm and rainy, but by noon, it was cold, snowing and blustery. Three of my afternoon students did not want to come to school and had to be coaxed or carried in to school. It was that kind of day, better spent on the couch with a book or the remote. However, we won them all back over to the happy side. It really did not take much, just a few m&ms, a little change in the routine and they were good to go.
I stayed at work late tonight to finish up all of my IEP updates.
One more day of work, then time to enjoy family.
Do you like how positive I am keeping it?!

End of another era

Late this afternoon, Jenny and I took Susie's car to Carmax. It was time.
It is difficult letting go of things that have so many memories, but what is the alternative?
Sue's car was originally my mom's, a car that my mom purchased in 2002. A Buick LeSabre. Tom helped my mom pick it out and negotiate price etc. It was the first car my mom had ever owned by herself; my dad always purchased the cars (boy, did he love cars!!) After my mom died almost three years ago, Sue had a car just coming off a lease (from work) and so she decided to take the Buick and drive it until she was ready to buy a new car (which she never did, btw).
So many memories in that car. Trips to Walt's (the neighborhood grocery store), emission tests (driving Miss Shirley to get the tests). I can picture it in the parking lot at TGIFridays as we joined together for our sisters lunches.
Just a few months ago, Susie and I rode in the Buick to Jenny's retirement party.
Sigh.
The reality is that all the great memories are there, whether or not we have the car.
It is still sad. It's just another reminder that Suz is gone from this earth.
Oh my gosh!!!! How depressing! I am sorry! I am such a Debbie Downer!
But thanks for listening.

Catch up weekend

It was just the kind of weekend I have been craving. Relaxing, productive, no rigid schedules and with a little family time thrown in. 

Oh, yeah. And lots of Breaking Bad. 

Friday was a busy and stressful day. In the morning, I was evaluated using the new state mandated PERA. It was the first of two formal observations/evaluations (plus an informal observation) and it was in the hardest part of my job. Mon-Thurs? I know that part of my job so well, including the documentation/paperwork aspects. Fridays? Those are a bit trickier, for many reasons. Thank God for the amazing teams I work with. The evaluation went well. 

Friday night Jack and I carried out pizza and from 5:30 on, we binged on Breaking Bad. We watched 4 episodes. 

On Saturday, I slept til 8:30am. Heavenly. Then we pretty much just got stuff done all day. And oh, yes, we watched 4 more episodes of Breaking Bad 

Today I had a nice walk with Jean. Snow flurries, brisk late fall temperatures.  I got a ton of schoolwork done and even a bit of house cleaning. 

Tonight Jack, Wayne, Julie and I had dinner with Bucky. Julie may be using something of Grandma's for her something old or something borrowed. We were working on that, then had dinner together. It was a fun night. Great family time.

  And the  perfect end to a relaxing weekend? One more Breaking Bad! 

Omg, so tired

There is nothing like taking a nap at 6:30, right after finishing dinner, then waking up long enough to take off my make up, put on my pjs, blog a little bit, then go to bed. Ahhhh. Heaven! 

I left work around 4:45 today, got stuck in some traffic and then stopped at the grocery store. Jack grilled some burgers and Brussel sprouts and that was our night. 

Simple pleasures! 

Hello, November

November. Already.

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is less than three weeks away. I am trying sooooo hard not to type "and we have two less people at our Thanksgiving table this year". Because that is true. Marie, my mother-in-law, and my sister Sue will not be joining us this year, at least not in the physical sense. 

I am so frustrated that whenever I start to blog, it turns out to be all about the losses! I am losing my faithful readers, I am sure. 

But there is that stinkin' grief. It pokes its head out whenever it sees fit. 

Since I have opened the door, I am just going to go ahead and walk through. 

Our Thanksgiving guest list is down 7 people since we first started hosting it. The list: Pawp (1997), Magin (2000), Dane (2005), Tommy (2007), my mom (2011), Marie (2013) and Susie (2014). Added in there is Mike (2011), though he, Sue, Lauren and Brendan always celebrated with Sue's side of the family, Mike and whoever was available, would stop by for appetizers. So let's say 8 family members.

We have never had over 20 people at Thanksgiving, so that is a pretty high percentage. 

I should ask my son-in-law the actuary about those odds. 

Bringing it up....

I have much to be thankful for and know that without a doubt. 

I really really need to blog about the two showers that loving friends threw for Julie and Wayne. 

Bay Village shower

shower at Christy and Steve's

I need to blog about Kjell and  Lisa's wedding and the fact that they are expecting a baby GIRL in March!!!

I need to blog about how hard Jenny is working on Sue's "stuff". Amazingly so! Oh my gosh. 

I need to blog about the very meaningful and special times that we are spending with Bucky. So fun. I can't adequately express how much Jack and I appreciate the time we get to spend with him.

corn and meat casserole in the red dish!

I think what I need to do is just start posting something on here everyday because life is full of so many blessings, including and not limited to, the election results on Tuesday!

Scenes from my day

I have to admit that I have been having a hard time blogging lately. Granted, things have been super busy with weddings, showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and  full time work thrown in there as well. But the real issue is that it is difficult to write about fun stuff when I am still processing my sister's death. I am definitely finding  great joy in all the happy times, but I am not taking the time to document them. I am hoping to get my blogging mojo back soon. 

In the meantime, I give you two pictures that I took with my iPhone today. One is the beautiful view out my window at work. I get to look out and see this. 

The second was the "Jesus sky" on my drive home tonight. 

Both pictures are reminders to me of Who is in charge and that brings me great peace. 

Bringing it up with some happy news

I am sorry for neglecting my blog. I feel a responsibility to keep things up to date here and I hate it when I go this long without posting.
I am just not myself yet.
At work on Friday, Ruthanne was checking in with me, asking how I was doing. I told her how I did not feel quite on my game. She equated it to how she felt last year as she waited for news about when she would finally be able to bring home her third son, Wilson, from Haiti. Ruthanne used the word "cloudy" and that is a perfect description of how I feel. Cloudy. That helped and brought me comfort to know she understood.
In the last month, I have neglected to share some of the very happy and positive happenings in my life.

So, in the happy news department, my nephew Kjell got married on October 4th! The wedding was beautiful. Jack officiated!!! Kjell's bride Lisa is a kind and gentle soul. She and her son, Jake, are a great addition to the family and there will be another addition to the family next March as Lisa and Kjell are expecting a baby! Such a blessing!
More happy news on the wedding front....Wayne and Julie's wedding season has begun! Their first shower was scheduled for the day after Sue's memorial service and we went ahead and had it because we knew that was what Suz would have wanted. For certain, no question about it. It was a couples shower at Christy and Steve's, cosponsored by Cath and Mark and Teri and Chuck. It was so incredibly powerful to have mourned with family and close friends on Friday and then to rejoice with many of those same people just 24 hours later. Truly Ecclesiates 3, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Julie and Wayne's wedding season continued this weekend with the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Julie's was in the city last night with about 30 women in attendance. Very fun women!  Wayne's was in Lake Geneva and started late Friday afternoon and continued on throughout the weekend, with guys joining in as their schedules allowed. Jack, as Wayne's best man, took charge of planning the event. From all reports, it was quite a success. One of the highlights was a video montage with snippets of Wayne's life.
I am going to go ahead and stop this post right now as Jack just walked in the door from the weekend and I can't wait to hear all about it!!!
More later!