A Spectacular Christmas Spectacular

Nothing gets you quite in the Christmas spirit like a spectacular Christmas concert – especially one appropriately named the Pentatonix Christmas Spectacular. 

In a word it was, well, spectacular!

My friend Cindy and I got our tickets a few months ago, knowing that going to a concert all the way over in Green Bay on the penultimate day of November could be a gamble. Thankfully it paid off. Although there was crappy weather and a lot of snow and/or ice in the north and northwestern sections of the state, we managed to escape it! 

We enjoyed opening act entertainment from Girl Named Tom, a trio of siblings who won The Voice last year. Here they are (above) performing a song with Pentatonix.

And absolutely loved a couple hours of the amazing and talented a cappella phenoms referred to simply as PTX. 

They sang some older tunes and some from their new album – plus showcased their "beat boxer" who's also an accomplished cellist! So entertaining. And they're soooo good! If you can't see them in person, give a listen to their Christmas music. This was my second time seeing them in the past 5 years. 

The only part I didn't enjoy was a few random "Go Pack, Go" cheers from the sold-out crowd. But other than that, amaze balls! The concert got over after 10 and thanks to extremely high winds that dried the roads, we got home a little after midnight. Late, but safe. 

I was dragging today with my 5 hours of sleep, so I'll be snoring by 9:15 p.m. for sure. Probably with sounds of spectacular harmony and visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

Sweet and spectacular dreams to us all!

Guardian Angels

We just can't say enough about the guardian angels in our life right now. We have such generous, caring friends reaching out in our time of sorrow. Even today while we were working from home we had three visitors and two brought gifts they made for us...

A pine bouquet of sorts that has fairy lights in it and an angel we can use as a Christmas ornament. Gorgeous!

And a handcrafted, wood-cut angel ornament with MOM in the center. Beautiful work!

We're blessed. Every day is a little better. Today we were both back in the full swing of work so we were plenty busy focusing our attention elsewhere. 

But it's always good to know you're there for us when we're not as busy. When our minds slow down and little patches of grief sneak in. Thank you for that.

#gratitudemonth

Off The Griddy

Much like this Amish buggy I recently saw on my road trip to Minnesota, I was blissfully off the grid today. 

My exhaustion caught up with me and I was in bed until 9:25 a.m.! No way I was getting to 9:30 church on time. So I stayed home. And pretty much stayed put all day. I had one quick run to Wal-Mart to get a printer cartridge, but otherwise was in my office typing up address labels for funeral thank-yous and editing hoops pictures from yesterday.

I relaxed and watched a little Hallmark, too. There's nothing else on for us purple people. We have our W for the week and are off the Griddy for today, too!

As we wrap up Gratitude month, may we all find a reason to do a little dance this week!

Full Time-Out

Just like the basketball games we watched today, we gave ourselves a full time-out. One day of doing normal things for a Saturday.

I did not go Up North to my family cookie exchange as planned. I saw most of my family at the funeral yesterday and all of them at my aunt's funeral last week. I realized there's such a thing as being too emotionally exhausted to entertain an 8-hour round-trip for cookies. Some more locally located people on the Nice List will be getting them instead!

I'm not saying that if you don't receive any, you're automatically on the Naughty List. But it's worth looking into.

Instead, we went to watch the Royals play in the varsity championship games at the Cranberry Classic. The girls won their game earlier in the afternoon to go undefeated and the boys lost a high-scoring shootout to Marshfield Columbus tonight to go 1-1 in the tournament. This should be a pretty exciting hoops season! 

We were quite touched that they had a moment of silence before the boys game tonight to honor Jim's mom since Jim and his sister are alums and both he and I are pretty involved in the school. Unexpected and super nice.

After the boys game came the highlight of this 56-degree day...

Nothing says an exciting date night in central Wisconsin like a drive through the Kwik Trip car wash. Oh yeah. Good stuff! My car was happy so we were, too! 

It was a nice escape from reality today. And it gave us an appreciation for even the typically mundane. It's called balance. Let's strive for more of that, shall we?

Black Friday 2.0

If one day could feel as long as a week, it was a today. We left for the church by 9 a.m. and visitation before my mother-in-law's funeral was 9:30-11 before the funeral.

It was a steady stream of visitors – a few pointing out that this is new, but sad, take on the term Black Friday. The grieving part of me agrees. But the spiritual part of my heart is thinking just like these bright flowers delivered to my house, we are celebrating a vibrant life well-lived.

That's what we'll cling to in coming days.

That and the outpouring of support – especially those who can to uplift us with hugs in person. Besides friends, neighbors, and relatives, Jim had a dozen high school and college buddies there and I had 5 of my 7 siblings. We feel so blessed!

After a delicious lunch at the church, our immediate family went to the Forest Hill Mausoleum to lay Donna to rest. Got home about 3 p.m. and just rested. 

Tonight we distracted ourselves with watching Assumption hoops – Jim from the couch and me from court-side taking some pictures. I think our minds and hearts just needed a break. We'll certainly need some energy stored up as we continue to navigate this unfamiliar path of grief.

Thanks again for your love and support. Count your blessings – and hug them if you can!

Non-Trad Turkey Day

It was a bit of a non-traditional Thanksgiving for us. With Jim's mom gone, we and his sister had our own small gatherings so my father-in-law wouldn't be overwhelmed with a crowd. I still made enough for food for one, of course.

We had 6 of us with both Clay and Carter and their special ladies here. I tried making my mother-in-law's dressing. It need work but I know what I have to tweak for the next holiday. Otherwise, the turkey, potatoes, corn, apple-Snicker salad, and pumpkin pies were good!

After dinner, we Zoom called Casey and Emily out in Portland.

Put them on the big TV so they were life-size. They won't make it home for the funeral. Airline tickets are crazy expensive since it's a holiday weekend. They'll be with us in spirt.

Just like they are right now as we watch the Vikings host a Thanksgiving game (also non-traditional) and try to hop back into the win column. I hope they didn't have any tryptophan-laden turkey. Lord knows I'm tired!

Too exciting of a game to sleep. Leave the room and someone scores. Hopefully the Vikes did while I blogged quick.

It would just be one more thing to be thankful for this thanksgiving. Even a bit sad, I love and appreciate the family that is still in my life. And my great support network of friends.

Hope you had plenty of blessings to count today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Eve

Today was actually a vacation day I had scheduled several weeks ago. I knew I'd need to get 2 things done before serving Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Number 1 was bake my pumpkin pies and number 2 was set the scale back 15 pounds – at least 5. It's tradition, right?

I was glad I had time to get the almost perfect pies done plus whatever other food – and house – prep I could do, plus a few creative projects, plus run what errands I could. I had hoped to get my car washed since it was 40+ degrees out. But everyone else had that idea. Add that to another day's to-do list.

For now, it's time to rest up so I can join everyone else in overexerting ourselves to eat as much good food as possible tomorrow until we need a nap. Come on. We've all trained for this!

Happy Turkey Eve! And count your blessings with gratitude tomorrow!

Find Your Happy

Love this inspirational advice today: Always find time for the things that make you happy to be alive. Pretty appropriate these days.

Today was a long day of combing through old photo albums, my blogs, and my scrapbooks for photos of my mother-in-law for the funeral picture boards. If you're too young to know, photos in the old days were like 2 by 2 inches. A whole house with people standing in front of it can be seen in that tiny square. See with a magnifying glass or the next best thing – my phone zoom. I decided to make the boards user friendly for people who need cheaters to read. So I scanned them all in, color corrected them and will put them together digitally to print out as one big poster or 2. 

It was tedious but it was heartwarming, too, to see the early days of my in-laws without kids, then along came Jim and Sherry. So many, many cute pictures. I might have to embarrass him with a full blog of pictures sometime, but now I'll just share evidence that he's been a Vikings fan forever...

Our new starting quarterback... at age 9, I believe! Ha. Much-needed lighthearted stuff!

Mid-afternoon I took a break and ran into town to get my final food stuffs for Thanksgiving. I also had to get my library card renewed since I use it all the time checking out audio books on my phone via the Libby app. My old card was cracked and still had my pre-Austin last name! So I got a brand new one I will not mistake for a credit card in the future. You're welcome, sales clerks.

So I celebrated with a Fa-La-La-Latte at Caribou. It was a nice little happy. 

May we all find little or big things to bring us happiness this week!

Sad Turn of Events

It's a sad day for Garfield the cat. His biggest fan is gone from this earth. And we're pretty sad, too.

Jim's mom loved all cats – but especially Garfield. She's collected various knickknacks with his likeness over the years and I always think of her when there's a rare sighting of the old comic strip cat. Now we'll think of her even more.

My mother-in-law passed away around 3:30 this morning. A week ago this would have been a shock. But there was a quick turn of events late last week that changed everything. 

On Wednesday night after dinner, she collapsed at the memory care facility she's been staying at for the past several weeks. She was rushed to the hospital, where she stayed in ICU until Saturday. During that time, opinions varied on whether she had a heart attack or mild stroke or both. Regardless, it hit her fragile 83-year-old body pretty hard. There was no possibility of recovery so they moved her into hospice care by Saturday afternoon.

Since both Jim and I have had aunts last weeks upon weeks in hospice, we – or at least I – was thinking much longer than the reality of just 36 hours. I know from watching my dad die that even though I got the opportunity to say goodbye, it doesn't lessen the pain any more once your parent is gone.

It's heartbreaking for Jim and his sister Sherry and especially their dad. My in-laws marked 60 years of marriage in September. That's a lot of time to love someone. Dearly!

We'll miss her and the grandsons will her, too. I hope heaven plays Neil Diamond (also her favorite), has plenty of kitties to cuddle, and the slot machines are loose! And if she can hang out with The Golden Girls, even better!

Rest in peace, Donna Mae!

Safe Travels

If there is typically a pile of presents under your Christmas tree, consider yourself blessed. Hopefully you're grateful that you can both give and receive. Not everyone has that privilege. 

While you're shopping during this holiday season, consider adding to your list. Someone less fortunate. Someone you might not even know.

My church made it easy. We participate in Operation Christmas Child organized by Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization. A couple weeks ago we could take a red shoe box home and fill it with goodies for a child likely on the other side of the globe.

If you don't think you can fit much in a shoe box, think again. They provide guidelines for what isn't allowed and what's encouraged – from hygiene items to educational tools to something FUN!

I was kind of fun to see what I could all cram in there. I chose to shop for a K-3 aged boy and managed to fit all of the above in the box. With little to no wriggle room.

 Today my fellow church elves and I dedicated 49 boxes and prayed for a safe journey tomorrow.

And yes, even though the collection sites close tomorrow, you can still donate to this cause. They ship these gifts to over 100 countries, so any support is welcomed, I'm sure. Click here to learn more.

And if you want to know what's on MY list. It's pretty much not going to happen based on the sad and scary show I was watching on TV this afternoon. Maybe I should change my Christmas wish to something that could fit in a shoebox instead.

May we all find joy in giving this season!

Need to Preheat

Woke up to a sunny but cold and blustery day. You know the type. Temps struggling to get out of the teens. Words like "wind chill" being bantered about. Not my scene.

Remembering that snow removal is my responsibility, I got out the shovel and cleared the driveway. I was so proud of myself for getting it done by midmorning while hubby was in town. Then I look out 10 minutes later and it's snowing. 

And there's no evidence I toiled for 45 minutes moments before. Thankfully it was light and there's an easy way to remove it.

With a leaf blower! And one operated by a helpful neighbor instead of me. Everybody wins. Or just me.

I'm more of an indoor sport type person in the winter. And by sport, I mean baking. Also known as heating the house.

In advance of next weekend's family Christmas cookie exchange, I made Crown Royal Sugar Crisp cookies.

Only because I smash the dough balls with the bottom of the lovely Crown Royal glass I found at Goodwill a few years ago. Makes for a nice look. 

For the finishing touch, I dipped them halfway into melted chocolate almond bark and added some sprinkles. They're pretty tasty. I've heard.

I'm sure this Betty Crocker level of excitement has nothing on blaze orange hunting stories from today. But you do your sport and I'll do mine. For the record, my oven mitt is orange if that counts for anything.

Be careful out there!

Warm Fuzzy Friday

Sometimes when it's been a tough week, you just need a warm fuzzy. And something warm AND fuzzy works, too!

And of course, she only sat on my lap like this for like 3 minutes. But it was nice while it lasted.

I think she wanted me to forget about the poop piles and puke piles she's left me this week. But I will admit that it was probably payback for not feeding her Wednesday morning before I left for work! I was distracted by having to take out garbage and driving in the snow.

Thankfully my good patient chose that day to do stairs in the morning. I'm sure he saved her 7th life or something.

So yes, Jim's recovery is going well. Can't believe that 3 weeks after surgery he is walking cane-less and can do some stairs and can drive his big-ass truck. He's not completely pain-free by any means, but wow, recovery is going well. Thanks for all the prayers and support.

Keep those warm fuzzies coming. Between recovery and some other stressors, we can certainly use them. Thank you. We're grateful. 

#gratitudemonth

All Her Children

We laid our beloved Aunt Gwen (my dad's baby sister) to rest today in Rush City, Minnesota. She was 93 years young and we could feel her young spirit with us.

Since she and Uncle Swede (who died in 1998) did not have children, her wish was that her nieces and nephew be her pallbearers. I should say "honorary" since there's obviously quite a few of us. And that's just who made the snowy drive over.

You might see some purple in here since that was her favorite color. You'll also see that among her "children" are all 8 of us R's and two of our cousins who trekked up from St. Louis with their mom. My uncle there stayed home and was able to watch the funeral service live streamed on TV. I told my aunt I could have done that too – but the hugs feel too good to miss out on.

I hit the road by 6 a.m. and with snowy roads and some road construction (so much for winter and road construction being separate seasons) it took about 4 1/2 hours. And 480 roundtrip miles later, got home early this evening.

Long day, but always great to see family and celebrate someone who lived life to the fullest and often took us along for the ride! 💜 Rest in peace, Aunt Gwen. 💜

I Heart Creativity

Had a much-needed distraction tonight in the form of a paint class with our Girls' Night Out crew. I had my friend Sara – or I should say my gnomie – come as my plus-one. Tonight's project was creating a gnome for the holidays.

These were our tools. The owner/teacher at I Heart Studios did a phenomenal job walking us through each stop from the blank canvas and on.

Some white, gold and brown paint for background.

Add in phrase, nose, hat and feet.

Create the gnome. Mine's just a squishy little guy I want to hug!

Finish up the hat – including a pom-pom on top.

And ta-da! Our masterpieces are complete!

I love how everyone in our group had something a little different! That's art or you! No two alike.

I highly recommend trying this. Pretty sure I will again! 

Grateful for friends and fun and creativity! #gratitudemonth

Trifle Tuesday Returns

Yesterday I was talking to one of my work teammates who's currently working remotely. Like really remotely in Indiana. I noticed his background on the virtual call was different. And yet familiar. When I realized he was back in the office for work this week, I thought, "This calls for the return of Trifle Tuesday!"

Upon this co-worker's request, I made a Pumpkin Something Something Spice Trifle... and Baby Spice.

The smaller one is the birthday treat I sent home with Carter yesterday for Mamie's birthday. I should probably confirm she actually got it. H-m-m...

Anyway, the "recipe" which I just made up is this:

Layer one is cubes of cake that was actually prepared like this – mix pumpkin spice pudding with 2 cups milk for 2 minutes, then fold in a carrot cake (or I think yellow or spice cake mixes would work, too) and stir. Place on bottom 9x13 pan. Layer a bag of Nestle Tollhouse Pumpkin Spice baking chips (pictured) and and bake a 350 some 20 minutes.

Layer two is Cheesecake Pudding mixed with milk per directions and some Pumpkin Spice Extract. I'd go about a 1/2 teaspoon if you're doing 2 packages (4 cups) pudding to make 2 layers.

Layer three is crushed up Vanilla Wafer Cookies (pictured) with some Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Sounds weird but you have to know cinnamon is part of the pumpkin spice. 

Layer 4-6 are repeats then the topping is just some Cool Whip. Easy peasy, right?

Seriously, it sounds putzy but never is all that bad. The time-consuming part is configuring what flavors and items would mix well together. But boy that's fun. And hearing the "m-m-m's" and "ahhhh's" when people taste it.

Maybe Trifle Tuesday will have come around more often! I'd rather see that on Tuesdays than this...

The commute to work was just a trifle slippery. A bit nerve-wracking with my precious cargo. The snow looks pretty now that I'm home safe for the night with nothing to do but relax.

And perhaps lick the 99% empty trifle bowl before putting it in the dishwasher?

No need to check back on that one. Be careful out there!

Door Dasher

While this looks like a flow chart of a food delivery person, it's more like the person comes here and we deliver.

Yup, our baby boy's visit was akin to a drive-through tonight. He and Mamie had planned to come up from her brother's in the Potosi area to visit us and stay a few days. As I was dashing around getting Crack Chicken going in the crockpot, he called and said she was under the weather so he was coming by himself.

Just to pick up his work laptop that was shipped here and basically turn around and head back. This is where momma's heart breaks a bit. He did make it safely and was able to eat with us. 

Also reacquainted himself with "his" cat.

Then packed up his car and literally 45 minutes after his arrival, he was heading back south. 

In the dark.

In the height of deer season.

Uff da.

Now I'm just praying he makes it back "home" safely. And also thanking God for those few minutes we had. I did squeeze in a few extra-long hugs. It's just never enough. Apparently I have a delayed ability to cope with the empty nest. After 6-plus years! Ha.

On the plus side, they are coming back next week for an extended stay around Thanksgiving. I sure hope it works out. 

Never take for granted your time with family. Just treasure it. One hour – or less – at a time. 

#gratitudemonth

Well That Was Wonder-SKOL

I'm gonna have to credit my great-nephew Nils for the Vikings OT victory over the Bills today. 

Early in the game when my sister (his Grandma Nell) texted me this picture I responded: "Of course he's smiling – he's oblivious to our current suckage situation."

Or maybe he was onto something?

I had a family photo shoot at 3 p.m. so missed the 4th quarter but got home when OT started. Of course they switched to the Packers game here so I couldn't watch the critical final minutes LIVE. So hubby "rewinded" back to the last few minutes of the 4th quarter and I could watch it and feel the stress of it. Even knowing it was going to lead to OT at least. Wow. Crazy finish in regulation.

Then the Red Zone Network picked up our OT action and we were able to see the crazy and amazing finish that put us to 8-1! SKOL!

I should also credit this really cool bracelet I bought at a craft show somewhere and haven't worn until today. Now it's gotta be part of my Game Day wardrobe!

I'll acknowledge we aren't the only happy people around here. Packers also pulled off an OT win. Now no one can gripe about anything tomorrow, can we?

Ha. We'll all find something. For now, I'll enjoy the wonder-SKOL Sunday! 

No Need for Drama

As I exclaim over the massive snowflakes falling, I had to remind myself to chill on the drama. This is perfectly normal when the calendar says November. Even though my heart is in September, still trying to slow down fall. 

Oh and by the way... we have control over none of it!

So I made the best of it. Slept in. Drank Pumpkin Spice coffee in my fuzzy robe. And got on with my day. 

Since we have very few concrete plans on the weekend calendar with my Bionic Man still in recovery, it was kind of a free day. And since some of our Lady Royals 8th-grade basketball players "invited" me to take pictures of them at their home tournament today, I hopped over the school and captured their last game of the day.

For those keeping track at home. Middle school boys have school ball now and girls have tournament team play. By January, they're both playing school ball and the boys will switch to tournament teams later that month. If I recall. As for high school, our Lady Royals tip off next week and the boys tip off Thanksgiving week with the Cranberry Classic tournament. 

Oh and our first hockey game – for the Pacelli, Assumption, etc co-op team – is November 22. In case you're looking for things to do. 

Or in case you need to escape the house for unspecified reasons.

No need for drama.

How the Week Flies

My week has been flying much like these inflatable kitty kites I happened upon on the way home from work the other day. It was windy enough they could have been a tangled mess, but somehow the kite engineer (flyer or whatever) kept them separate and even in a straight line.

My schedule? Not so much.

Yesterday was busy after work because I was shooting hoops. Shooting pictures of hoops, that is. Assumption middle school boys had their first home games hosting Pacelli. Both our teams just squeaked by for victories.

I was a little out of practice shooting photos in the gymnasium with its low lighting and clustered action. I was able to post some 60 pictures of the 7th-graders last night – then went to bed instead of blogging – and got 80+ pictures of the 8th-graders posted after work today.

I actually saw several of those 8th-graders again tonight because they also played middle school football this fall and were invited to attend the high school end-of-season football banquet. I was also invited. Wasn't sure why until I got there.

After a cool season recap video featuring lots of my photos, they wanted to thank me for my dedication shooting pictures at almost all the games. I got a nice certificate of appreciation signed by the senior players' parents. And a cute coffee mug that looks like a camera lens. I was really touched. That was so unnecessary. I just love giving back, that's all.

Banquet lasted until 9 p.m. But that's OK. It was nice to sit and enjoy it without having to do anything besides eat and clap.

It was also a nice distraction after dealing with another death of a loved one. My Aunt Gwen, who has been in hospice for the past few weeks, died at 3 this morning. We thought it fitting that she finally "let go" on Veterans' Day since she did a ton of work for veterans in her lifetime. Quite a special lady!

Here's my twin and I with Aunt Gwen at the Hedberg Christmas party in 1978. So weird to think I only have two uncles left from my dad's 8 siblings. And all are gone on my mom's side. I don't feel old enough to have all these vacancies. 

But they all sure had lives well-lived. May we all take time in the whirlwind that is our lives to be sure ours are too. Including time to sit back and relax and just enjoy the show. Whatever your "show" is.

Be careful out there!

Dear Old (and Wise) Dad

I'm not sure why we watched reruns of this old TV show when I was a kid. Either because it was wholesome (likely the case) or because in the show, the kids always went to Dad for advice since "Father Knows Best." Unlikely Mom thought that but maybe having 8 kids nagging on her prompted a "go ask your father" a time or two.

I kind of think there's still plenty of that in today's world. And I do appreciate the wisdom (and wise-ass remarks) of dads and fathers-in-law – especially today.

My father-in-law turned 85! Jim and I went to visit Johnny after work. It just happened that while we were there, Carter called him to wish him a happy birthday.

And it was pure coincidence we were talking about how he hasn't called me in ages.

So I suddenly hear Grandpa saying things like, "Have you called your mother lately?"and something like "There was a guy on TV the other day saying you should call your mother every other day" and an offering of "If I see your mom today should I tell her you're going to call her?"

And the clincher "Would you like to talk to your mom NOW?"

He hands me the phone and Carter says, "Grandpa is clever!" Indeed. He DOES know best! It wasn't even my birthday and I got the gift of talking to my baby. Thanks, Dad!

By the way, the "guy on TV" was Steve Harvey and it was a Family Feud fast money question about how often you should call your mother. Carter will be happy to know "every day" got lower points than "every other day". You're off the hook there, buddy.