Thursday, February 23, 2012

Snow in the forecast

Cheryl comes to Iowa today and will probably be greeted by snow. There was snow on the ground the last 2 mornings when I got up; but in a couple of hours it was completely gone. This time they are predicting more, that is how we welcome Californians to Iowa!

We had Circle Monday night and made and baked small cherry pies for our shut-ins and nursing home residents. Marlene W. and I headed to the Clarence Nursing Home to deliver 2 pies; and then to Wheatland for the next 4. We have one parishioner in the assisted living part and the other 3 in the nursing home. Mother's room mate, who also belongs to our church, didn't want her pie so I took it over to Uncle Elmer. That made his day. He just couldn't wait to find a fork! As usual, we had a lot of fun making pie dough (well, I sort of watched) and putting together lattice tops and baking the pies. The people in charge of refreshments made cherry pie for us to eat too! Those not making pies make labels that we put on the plastic bags that the pies go in. It is a fun night. Our next project will be serving a meal before our Lenten service in March. I get to make chicken lasagna; we also serve beef lasagna and salad and garlic bread.

Tomorrow night is our Legion fish fry again. Always a busy night. Ben and Sue are bringing Cheryl so she gets a taste of what real food tastes like!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The sun is shining

What a pretty morning it is. I am so used to not having the sun shine, it looks wonderful today. Sherrie and I will meet at Wheatland to have our first staff meeting at the nursing home. Hopefully, we will find some answers, and the staff will probably too. Last night mother took a trip by ambulance to the DeWitt Hospital, but was back in the nursing home within a couple hours. She has had a stroke, but it has affected only her right leg/foot. Sherrie noticed it on Sunday because mother was lifting her right leg high; mother said her foot felt "heavy". She was able to answer questions, the rest of her is fine too.

We had supper at Schneid's last night for Valentine's Day. Ron and Kathy joined us at our table and by the time we left the place was filling up and was getting noisy!

School was fun Monday with lots to do. The kids were excited about Valentine's Day and the teachers, well, let's just say the kids have more fun than the teachers! I listened to stories, the 4th graders can pick which book they want to read to the volunteers and I love listening to their good books. Only wish I could hear the whole book instead of a few pages. The 1st grade all read the same story and the volunteers mark on a page how well they did. The 2nd graders do "rocket math" which is a timed test that we get to check. Usually the same for 3rd grade but Monday I got to count out 10 Valentine candy hearts, 3 chocolate animal cookies and 3 vanilla animal cookies to put in a bag for each of them for their Valentine treat. In kindergarten a few read to me; one girl named Gabby is well named!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Recipes please

Today we went with Rick and Deb to Riverside for the morning. We get there early enough that there aren't many people there. We came back to Iowa City for lunch and some shopping. I have decided that we have to enjoy every day as much as we can because life can be too short.

The Legion beef supper went over well Saturday night serving over 500 people. We are still eating some of the left-over beef we bought afterwards. It is really good, but I think I will need to make something else for tomorrow night. We are taking Grandma to see her surgeon tomorrow morning; hopefully they will take out the staples and her drain tube. I wonder how the cold weather will affect her as she hasn't been outside since we took her to the nursing home. And hopefully we can find the dr.'s office without too much trouble!

We are working on our cookbook for church, getting the recipes we have typed up etc. Still need more recipes--Shirlee, Lynne! I know you have some, just email them to me.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

fog--again

Schools in this area have been delayed 2 hours because of the dense fog. I don't have to go anywhere until later so I am glad I don't have to drive in this stuff.

My computer crashed and I have to get a new tower. My desktop computer was old (by computer standards) so I am learning to do stuff on the laptop that I usually use my desktop for. Luckily I had saved the important stuff, Brooke says she can transfer a lot from the old to the new. I don't have a few email addresses and other sites I normally use.

I have visited mother in the Nursing Home quite a few times; and am going today. She was complaining about her clothes (I brought all the wrong ones) and the food (they just feed her leftovers). I figure if she feels well enough to complain she is feeling pretty good. She has a nice room and the people working there are very helpful. Hopefully she is working on getting strong enough to come home.

We have been to the funeral home twice in the last 2 weeks; the latest for 60 year old Pat Boedeker who had been sick for a few years with cancer. She is now at rest and the family too. Prayers are needed for our superintendents wife who is battling stage 4 brain cancer and starts her treatments today.

I had a little time yesterday to make 2 quilt squares from the bright and pretty fabric Chelsey gave me for Christmas. If I ever get it done, I'll post a picture.