An F-Word Weekend

It takes a lot of F words to make up a weekend. But I've managed to string a few together...

FUNNY: Let's start with enjoying some of my moments indoors – since it's still quite frigid out! The Grumpy Old Men movies are always good for a lot of laughs.

I watch both movies and was sure to take a picture of Slippery's bar in both. Many years ago we had our sister weekend over in the Lake Pepin / Wabasha area. We made sure we stopped into Slippery's bar, which looks nothing in real life like it does in the movies. But hey, I still had to but a t-shirt! Side note: How does the hoodie queen buy only a t-shirt and not a sweatshirt?!

FOOTBALL: I might as well mention it – even you should note that I waited 24 hours to talk about a sore subject. Still, even though it's frustrating for many of you, it's been fun to watch close games. Congrats, Lions! Now I'll have to see how Taylor Swift's team does! Side note: I can't believe my siblings forced our mother to wear a cheesehead! Who does that?!

FOTOS: If you can believe, I spent most of my free time yesterday and today going through photos and prepping for my upcoming scrapbooking weekend at the end of February. I thought I had most of my pix printed out for my 2017 album. But it turns out I had to upload 300+ for Walgreens to print out for me. That's a freak ton of pictures. Good thing I am still a month ahead!

FUNERAL: We went to visitation tonight for the father of one of Jim's classmates. And father of one of my old volleyball buddies. And my favorite ticket-taker at Assumption basketball games. Mr. P. was the friendliest man on the planet! I'll miss him! Side note: I found out his daughter-in-law reads my blog every day. Thanks for being a fan, Ann!! 

FRIGID: The temps are still below freezing. So even if it was sunny and looked like gorgeous day to get and do something like snow-shoeing, it wasn't nice enough. And I'm still feeling a bit low. And I think I passed it along to hubby. Sorry! Side note: That's what friends are for, right?

FAREWELL: OK, gotta go watch some football. Stay warm and be careful out there, friends!

A Nip in the Air

Question: What could possibly prompt an 11-year-old boy to go out sledding in sub-zero temperatures twice in one evening?

(Hint: This involves that redhead.)

Answer: That redhead!

I've said before that mothers are always the last to know. Carter just finished telling me after supper that his stomach hurt. I asked if it was something he ate and he said, no, the girl next door punched him in the gut after they got off the bus.

First question: Why? No reason, he said. Second question: Then why were you over sledding with her if she's being mean to you? The answer, now, is obvious. He wasn't over there to spend time with her. Just her friend.

He's over there right now but I figure -- in the naive motherly sort of way -- that eventually it will just get too cold and he'll have to come home!

Today was definitely the first really cold day of almost-winter. It was minus 5 degrees when we left the house this morning with wind chills in the minus teens. Ick.

During work I took a quick break and ran down (well, drove) to the post office in Iola. I swear it was just like a scene from Grumpy Old Men (a movie I love, by the way). We had two old guys trying to out-man each other like they were untouched by the frigid air. "Oh I just love this crisp autumn air," the one guy says. I look at the postmaster (post-mistress?) and would have rolled my eyes but I was afraid they'd freeze that way.

Just stinkin' cold! But I found a way to warm up...

Since hubby had to use the computer when we got home, I plopped on the couch and found -- what else? -- a Christmas movie called The 12 Men of Christmas. I actually kept my coat on until a half hour into it. Then, since the plot involved shooting a calendar of firefighters and rescue men, I was plenty warm. Good movie. (If you're feeling a nip in the air, you can see it on Lifetime or, if you have Charter, watch it On Demand.)

Kind of cool we can generate heat on demand, eh?

To the moon!

I'm not a scientist or meteorologist and I don't read the Farmer's Almanac. I just need to spend a day with the Up North folks to know when there's been a full moon. Yep, there's definitely been one in the past few days!

The Reader's Digest condensed version is that my dad, who turns 80 next month hasn't been doing well. He especially has aches, pains and minor injuries to his foot and leg that, due to his diabetes, aren't healing well or at all. He's getting around with a cane these days -- when he does get around.

A few days ago, he got a big load of firewood dropped off that needed to get hauled into the basement for winter. Since my weekend with the college girlfriends was called off for a family emergency, Jim and I decided to head Up North early Saturday to haul that wood! And so we did. Jim, Carter and I, along with a future, potential brother-in-law, hauled and got it done.

Then three other sisters show up and, while they were too late for the wood hauling, they were just in time for what I call a "come to Jesus" meeting with our parents. In a nutshell -- Mom and Dad are both getting old and it's hard for them to maintain a house, and we kids have concerns about the safety of them burning wood with a not-so-wonderful chimney. We relayed our concerns but Dad, just like a scene from Grumpy Old Men, stomped his cane and basically accused us of trying to kick him out of his house so we could throw away his stuff (which we view as "junk," but Mom and Dad don't!).

Talk sort of ran in circles between the house and plans for his upcoming birthday party. It was sad that there was actually yelling going on -- you know, you have to yell to get your point across, right? The louder you get, the much clearer it should be. It's not, though.

By the time we left, the hot topics had simmered down and I think things were OK. I know I'm not perfect and just as guilty of contributing to the bicker-fest. I realize, however, that even though we tried to express our concerns to Mom and Dad in at least 4 different ways, they have their perception that we are just telling them what to do. As frustrating as it is, I can't change that. And I can't change them -- any of them.

On the way home last night, I was physically and emotionally drained ... but not so much that I couldn't say the Serenity Prayer.

I was thinking ahead to when I'd see the family again in a few weeks and how things would be. I concluded I wouldn't be surprised if Dad sends us all "to the moon, Alice!" when we show up at his birthday party. Though he wouldn't say Alice actually, since we all start with R ... But I suppose the moon is a bit cooler than that other place ...