Getting back in the Groove

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted but hope you all understand. We had a nice service for my Mom on Friday. We had a lot of family visit as well as old friends of ours and my brother's.
My sister elected not to attend this service (she lives in Tacoma Wa.) so she can attend the services we are planning in Florida. My parents have a plot in a cemetery in Zephyrhills and that is where they wanted buried. Both of them were cremated and my brother has the urn with their ashes. We are planning a trip south in March where we will have a small service and lay them both to rest.

Saturday we all got together at my Mom's apartment and moved her things out. I don't know how to describe the feelings I had that day. I went through a lot of emotions and had a tough time dealing with her "stuff". I guess the reality of it all had hit full force and I was not prepared for it. Luckily we had plenty of help and got the apartment cleared out fairly quickly.
We gave a lot of the furniture away once all the kids and grand kids had their pick of things they wanted or needed. The assisted living facility has an Alzheimer's wing and they said they could use her clothes so those were donated to them.
Once that chore was done I was totally wiped out emotionally and needed to just get out and do something fun. We had been dealing with this stuff for a week now and needed a release so we convinced Steve and Trish Suter to head up north with us to a casino in Michigan. I made us a reservation at a nearby motel and we headed out.
They have been great friends through all of this and a valuable resource as well as a shoulder to lean on.

We did pretty good at the casino Saturday night and I left with a small pocket of cash :-). Better still I came away rejuvenated and ready to face the world again.

The last week of work has been busy, busy, busy. We were scheduled to work 3 full days with a half day on Thursday and Christmas Eve off. Rudee had some vacation days to burn so she got the whole week off!
While I was slaving away she was a lady of leisure and spent most days in Plainfield helping her Mom get ready for their big family Christmas.
We have always celebrated with her family on Christmas eve with a big gathering and meal. Since Rudee's parents are getting up in years and have various medical issues they are not able to do all the things that have to be done to host such a big event. Between all the siblings, grand kids and great grand kids they were expecting between 20-25 people!
Christmas Eve morning Rudee and I picked up Amanda at her house and headed to Plainfield early. Once there we started cooking and setting up to "feed the masses" :-).
We sit up tables, chairs and a Christmas tree in the garage and do everything out there. I fired up two kerosene heaters and Amanda helped me sweep the carpet in the garage and sit up the tables and chairs. Once this was done I went in and helped Rudee in the kitchen.
With my Mother in Law supervising I made her famous chicken and noodles from scratch. They turned out really good but to play it safe we didn't tell anybody I had made them in fear they would sit untouched! :-)
Rudee and I were both bushed by the time the meal was over and all the presents had been opened. We started for home around 8pm. The weatherman had been predicting heavy snow for tonight and it was just starting to fall. The roads were in pretty good shape until we got about 20 miles from Crawfordsville when the interstate went from just being wet to being covered in snow with just tire tracks to guide you down the lane. We saw a couple of people slid off into the median and were being pulled out. I switched the truck into 4 wheel drive and slowed way down and we made it home safely.
Christmas morning we got up and found that Santa Claus had indeed visited us here at the KOA. Rudee got a nice bracelet and earring set and I got some "bling" for my bike :-)
We didn't have a lot of time to be lazy at home because the grand kids were up and waiting on us to come over so they could open presents too!
We had nice time at their house watching the kids opening gifts and playing with their new toys.

Rudee is back to work on Monday and I have volunteered for overtime. We have another short week with both of us getting Friday off. We have not made any New Years Eve plans and will probably just go to bed early to recover from the week of work. I guess we are starting to "feel our age" :-) I'll keep you posted.