Saturday rain and good sleeping!

It is 9:00 and I just got up!  All I have on my agenda today is Mannat Varsey is bringing her father over to my house at 5:00.  He owns the biggest John Deere implement place in India!  Mannat is one of my grandchildren so I will be happy to meet him!   It just goes around in circles... This friendship blessing!

Ran my legs off yesterday!

Kept after it all day!  Visited with people who had been sick in neighborhood, went up on campus to BSC for last Thursday lunch of the year, a friend called who had gotten some bad news and she came by and we talked,  Debbie did my hair and found someone to work for me this summer and then Matt took me to The Elks at Sikeston for the Missouri Delta Foundation Dinner!  We do Mama cooper,s Wall together there and I have a scholarship there to entice doctors to come there after they finish medical school!  So far, we have gotten two doctors there!   Did not stay long but had a great time!

Helped Matt in first Baptist church

Matt Porter came over today and was dead tired and had to get dinner fixed for church!  I told him I would go out and help him, so I went out and scrubbed and wrapped 60 potatoes to be baked and sliced banana peppers!  Then I gave up and told him to take me home!  Those low sinks were hard on my back!   But I needed a dose of human beings after two days of rain!  And I slept like a log!

What a downpour of rain and hail!

I am sitting drinking coffee this morning watching and hearing the rain,  then I get I note on computer, "lightning detected!"  Do you think?  duh!  We haven't even needed to turn on lights yesterday!  One of the great reliefs of retirement is I can sit here in my family room in my robe and watch the world of cars go by!   It is a good thing!  Anything worth doing is worth doing at home today!

Monday a reflection day!

Matt Porter and I started the day by doing errands and going to the bank and cvs and BSC and the university and then stopping at Wendy's for our favorite chicken sandwich!   I came home and talked to Julia and Betty who were both at Julia's house! Raphael got back from taking his medical school exam in Kansas City and he looked so tired! So it was a typical Monday but a new week is starting!  

We had a fun going away party for Matt on Sunday!

Matthew Porter party

Yesterday I went to a going away party for Matt Porter at  BSC and it was fun time.  I hate to see him go but it is time for him to transition and go to seminary!  I will always be grateful for his being here for me;  he took me to hospital when I fell down the steps and just last week he spent the night when I had dental surgery!   He is a good friend and he cared about me!

A sonata performance!

Yesterday Mark and Tina Stacy went to Chapel Hill NC to hear a senior recital music student play a Sonata written by my sister, Rose Marie Cooper Jordan, in 1985.  She wrote it in three weeks in Charleston on our piano!

Here is a picture of Mark and Rose Marie!

Waiting to hear some news!

Waiting and praying and hoping that all is getting better!

Laurie Stacy's mother is ill!

One of the most difficult parts of living away from your children is not being there for them in critical times!  I have six children and the word "in-law" is not something that comes to mind when I think of them!  Laurie, just know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and my love will reach you!  

Meeting about scholarships today!

One advantage about getting old and having nine Semo Scholarships is they come to my house for the selection meeting!!  And that is what we did today! Susan Burton came and gave me the criteria info and away we went!  I like to be involved in their lives!  Raphael is moving on and I will miss him!  We need a replacement for him and we need to contact another who did not sign up and see why not!

Ate at five restaurants last night

Okay, so it was a bit overboard! But it was all done to raise money for Semo dance and theatre students!  We went to Ciao for small entree and rice pudding! The winery, my Daddy's for cheesecake, Saffron for salad and chocolate works for you know what!  Matt Porter, Mannat Varshney and Karen Holman joined our group!  It was a really fun night!

Went to Sikeston yesterday to see offices of Mike Parker with Jay Wolz, who is now alumni director!  Mike was president of alumni association for years!  When I got home, my yard was all mulched!  Yea!  I'm finally getting used to my new bridge in mouth!

Bangladeshi New year!

I went to Bangladeshi New Years party last night at Baptist Student Center and we had a packed house!  The students did all the cooking and it was hot!  Like you drank hot sauce out of the bottle!  President and Mrs Vargas came also! What fun!

Andy' s run!

Yesterday my Andys gang and I made a run to get custard!  We get our order and head back to my house to sit on my screened in back porch and talk!  Nelson says we have a "ritual" and we do! They talk about their problems like being torn about wanting to go home or finding work here and the ties that they don't wish to cut!

Growing up is tough no matter what the circumstances are!  So is growing old!  We need each other to make it easier!

Azalea festival

I am doing fine and soft foods make babies grow!  I turned down invitation to go to Charleston for Azalea festival!  Too crowded with busses today! But I have cabin fever so I am getting out today to do errands and go have ice cream with my buddies:  Sindupa and Nelson!  I also have to go to mausaleum to take picture of flowers for Gene Greable!  He wanted to know about Bob Foster so I called him and talked!  Allen and Anne are retired!  Joe is still working!

Getting used to new dental alignment

My role in getting a new bridge is to get used to it and my tongue is getting over its curiosity!  I have overcome the worst but still eating soft!  Time to move on for me!  Mark Hoff has cancer of colon and Karel has pleurisy so I need to be thinking of the people who take care of me who are in far worse shape!

So get over it!   Sending Saras new picture!

Talking with Sara

I talked to my daughter, Sara, last night on the phone and asked her how her church conference went!  She said that 1260 women attended! She was still so excited that she was talking fast talk like she did when she was a child!

Then we talked about the changes I wanted to make in my house to modernize it and help sell it when I get ready!  I said paneling is out and paint is in!  She told me to change light fixtures in  family room and remove the textured ceilings!   Why should I wait till I get ready to sell!  Let me enjoy it!

Getting ready for spring cleaning!

We had a rainstorm which left limbs all over my yard!  I remembered when Adam Dyer cleaned my nasty gutters last year and he told me to get someone every year!  I like to keep my place up and I have to hire everything done!  So I called Mike Ketcherside to give me an estimate on gutters and power washing the house!

Then, out of the blue, a man stopped by with a truck, in the blinding rain, and said that for $30 he would pick up all the limbs and carry them off!  He made a deal and he was soaked already!

Not too sick to go eat!

I made arrangements with my sibling friends who are organization experts, Angelina and Aron , to come help me purge my closets yesterday and carry off stuff to Safe House!  They came and so did Matt!  My bedroom was a hustle of activity and I sat on the bed and said save or pitch!  I even had all my old seminary papers and notebooks! 

Then we went to Chans!  They let me buy their lunch but no cash for their work!  

Early Sunday morning

Today it is cold but I am spring cleaning!  Angelina and Aron are coming over to clean out my closets!  I have stuff in top of closets I have not seen in years and they are organized siblings!  Sunday's are a time for getting a grip!  I'm after it!

Talked to Mark and Tina yesterday and they are fine!  He is off to Berlin in a while and she is going to half time!  They are doing well and that is a good thing!  So am I!

Feeling better this morning!

Got a good nights sleep! It is cold here!  Today I may do nothing but it is just because I choose to be lazy, 

Blah ! Humbug!

I have a 24 hour stomach bug and I am running to bathroom!  I hate it and had to cancel my night last night and stuff tonight!  Yucky!,  it's going around!  I was sure to get it!

Birthday party for Joan Gohn

Last night Joan and I and Judy Brown went to Dalhousie for Joan's 69 Th birthday and we enjoyed it!  Saw Steve Limbaugh and Joel Montgomery and others!  Joan and I have traveled the world together and she is a wonderful friend to me!  I enjoy the time I spend with her and we just pick up the conversation where we left off! Never a hassle...always in each other's corner!

A day for visiting

I only had one item on the agenda for yesterday:  birthday lunch with Kristi Thurman who worked with me when she was a student but when I came home Raphael came by to take a break from studying and Angelia and Aron brought their mother by before she returns to Sri Lanka!  I enjoyed having guests who felt comfortable enough to drop in!  Aron is the master of selfies!  Doesn't even use a stick!

Monday funeral

Juan Crites and I went to the funeral for the father of Monte Seabaugh yesterday at Ford and Sons!  Monte was my secretary for many years and I love her!  Juan worked with us on Hsc! Later Juan and I had a long lunch and talked and laughed!  It was good!

John Wittenborn funeral

John Wittenborn died and I went up to his funeral in Steeleville Illinois yesterday!  Hired a driver because I wanted to say goodbye to this great player who played with Bill Stacy and the Imans and Gary Nichols!  It was a long trip, we witnessed a bad wreck in front of us and I called 911 while my driver ran for the truck, lines were long but I saw his first wife, Janet, and their kids and they knew someone from their Semi past was there!

And he went on to play pro ball with the Eagles and was on their championship team in 1960!

Bangladeshi Night!

I am exhausted this morning!  I was special guest last night at Bangladeshi Night and Faisal's parents sent me a sari to wear!  It took an hour to get on and Aron and Angelia had to come over and put it on me!  I sat with President and Mrs Vargas and we took thousands of pics! It was a splendiferous night!

Game on tonight!

Oklahoma State plays tonight in the final four!  Lew Hill coaches there and used to be coach at Semo!  He wanted to come back as head coach recently and I tried to help him but he didn't get the job!  We still keep in touch and I'm pulling for him!

April Fools Day!

In my childhood days, my brother, Jim, who tormented me from the day I was born, spent the day telling me stuff that I, like a fool, believed like Albania had declared War on the world and they would soon be invading Charleston coming down the river!  But if I told anyone they would take me away!  And that was tame for his April l Fools stories!

But before dawn on April 2 I would sneak into his bedroom and announce, for only his ears: "April Fool's is already past; you're the biggest fool at last!"