Northern Lights Envy is a Thing

I was so frustrated with our cloud cover on Bluejay Drive last night. I literally stepped outside every few hours to hopefully catch sight of the Northern Lights.

Especially after viewing stunning photos from family Up North in Wisconsin and from the Twin Cities on up in Minnesota (like my niece's photo above). So lucky! So envious.

And I'm not kidding that there were clouds at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., and 2 a.m. But I could see something was hiding behind them!

Then.... shout out to Mr. Tiny Bladder for awakening my body at 5 a.m. I look out the bathroom window and see... stars! Holy crap! No clouds.

So I run out the front door and onto the driveway in my slippers and PJ's and finally caught a beautiful view above our tree line!

It was a brilliant pink! And because I was not exactly dressed to hop in the car and find an unobstructed view in an open field somewhere, I don't know if our pinks were attached to any greens like other photos I viewed. 

In retrospect, I should have. Because I didn't fall back asleep anyway for my 6:20 alarm.

So tonight I caught colors early...

As in sunset colors on my drive home from work. But because the Northern Lights are supposed to be visible like everywhere tonight, I will try again. Between sunset and choir practice. Then between choir practice and realistic bedtime.

Good luck to all of us Northern Lights dorks! 📷

Fun With The Niece-To-Be

When a Sunday drive is about 9 hours on the road, it helps that it is worth it. Hit the road at 7 a.m. to attend the bridal shower for my nephew Eric's soon-to-be wife. Due to so much road construction it ended up taking about 4 1/2 hours to get to Grantsburg. but I still got there in time to set up the welcome poster (above) that I designed and many more decorations.

My sister Romey (mother of the groom) outdid herself but is was all a wonderful theme of sunflowers, chickens (which they raise) and a tribute to the bride's mom, who passed away from cancer earlier this year.

I especially loved the center pieces because I immediately recognized the chicken salt and pepper shakers to the right of the vase as something my Grandma Flossie had. (She had hundreds in her collection!)

Bride-to-be Stephanie is in the center flanked by her daughter on the right and a foreign exchange student (left) they're hosting for the upcoming school year.

The soon-to-be mother in law and aunties!

Regarding gift opening... I was thrilled when the bride gushed over my blanket, wrapped it around her shoulders and said she loved it. Multiple times. Long live personal off-the-gift-registry gifts. Ha!

After the shower, I had a chance to visit with Dad and Mom. The gravestone finally has Mom's "end date" which was a bit jarring. As I said in my convo to them "I still don't think it's fair I'm this young to have no parents!" Every time it's refreshed grief. As one of the babies of the family, probably won't get over that. Ever. 

In the last hour or so stretch of the trip home, I noticed I was going into some very darkened skies to the east. But then I caught sight of more than one rainbow.

I actually pulled over and took a picture on the side of the road because I could see hints of purple – not always the case. Or as I say it, the IV in the ROY-G-BIV color scheme!

It did help guide my home. And to be fair, I went a completely different than I did on the way up. Still road construction, but for way fewer miles!

When I got home I learned my hubby's team – the Reds – ended the Brewers' win streak. Sorry about that. I say with fake sincerity since we all grasp for a win – even at a word scramble game at a bridal shower!

Game on!

Roller Coaster Weekend

Not to sound like old hat, but I'd prefer a boring weekend with nothing to do and no place to go over a roller coaster of a ride through ups and downs and loops of emotions.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm – and about to get hot. 

My only mission was getting hanging flower baskets. I always wait until later in May, hoping to miss the risk of freezing temperatures.

I was not the only one with this line of thinking. Apparently hundreds of people – at one store alone – thought it was National Spend Too Much Money on Hanging Flower Baskets Day. I was happy with my purcha$e$. 😀 Got home, hung them up, mowed around the house, clipped the long grass close to the curb and front landscaping area, then took a shower. 

That was an "up" the roller coaster part.

Then it went "down." My twin called me and let me know that Mom had gone from the nursing home to the ER and had pneumonia. But it did not look good. Like "maybe you better drive up and see her" type of not good. 😟

Nothing like trying to make a 4-hour trip in less than 4 hours when there's road construction and detours! Two promising signs on my drive: 

These clouds were opening up like God was saying "I got you" when it comes to prayers for my mother, sister, and close friend with scary health issues. 

Then, as I was scanning channels, some song named LeRoy came on and I figured Dad was guiding my drive and watching over Mom, too!

Got there just before visiting hours ended to see Mom and see that thankfully their emergency administrations of oxygen and whatnot (not to diminish it, I just don't know) were helping her. She was able to communicate again. And though she had a tough cough, I was there when the tele-doctor was visiting her. 

When he asked her about what she thought might be bringing on her bouts of nausea, she answered, "I know one thing it's NOT. I'm not pregnant." The doctor got a good chuckle from that and said, "Marlys, if you're still making jokes, you're doing just fine."

That's my mom! 😀

After that, I called hubby to update him and learned that we got hail twice in the evening and the future state of my new flower$ was que$tionable. 😟

I slept at my sister Nell's place nearby and was able to get back to the hospital before 9 a.m. She just finished breakfast and was very tired. I offered her a chance to nap or play cards and she responded, "I think you know what I'd rather do." So I retrieved her cards from her nursing home room.

And she proceeded to kick my butt. (I'm embarrassed to show the score!) There's a fine line between luck and skill, but I haven't determined what that is yet. Her nurse said Mom has basically played cards against every nurse on every shift and even taught a few how to play. She's definitely not ready to give in and miss her play time!

On my way out of town, I had a quick lunch with my sister RoAnn, her son Travis and his family.

My great-niece is pretty much the cutest lunch date I could have! 😀

I managed to find a route home with minimal construction – thankfully! And was still an hour from home when Jim called me asking if I got a text. I said my phone dinged but I was waiting to stop at a gas station to check them.

Turns out I won the Assumption grand raffle of $5,000! Well that's something to end this roller coaster ride with! 😀 Before today: "I never win anything!" Now: "I might not beat Mom at cards but I can win something!" Based on all my "medical trips" to see family, I'll count this is gas money for now.

And maybe hail-damaged flower replacement. We'll see. 

Thanks for all your continued prayers. Let's all have a normal, even-keel week, shall we?

Family of the Month

OK, we didn't win a family award. Today was our monthly family game day-dinner at my oldest sister's house in Siren. 

We all can't make it every month, but we had Mom and 7 of the 8 R's there today. The 8th R was just landing after a warm vacay, so she was excused.

Jim and I couldn't believe that we traveled 4 hours NORTH and still didn't find winter. Obviously no ice fishing going on.

Lots of folks out enjoying another spring-like day.

Shared the road with three such vehicles between Neillsville and Osseo. Since it wasn't quite as spring-y as previous days this week, I was happy to be inside our heated vehicle!

Our hostess Rayna said we could dress for whatever occasion we wanted – red for Valentine's Day (or Super Bowl colors) and Mardi Gras colors. Since she's actually been to Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, she greeted us with her colorful self!

I tried on the Jester's hat and determined it had too much green for this purple and yellow loving gal.

After a delicious lunch, we tried our hand at Mexican Train Dominoes. Now the last time Mom and I played this was probably 10 years ago when Rayna and Paul lived in Texas. The others hadn't played it before at all. Took a bit to remember but I managed to win one round and Mom won two in a row. And one time she just had one tile left – to represent her 8 R's, I say.

"Mom, teach me your winning ways!"

Got to see my twin today, too, so that was a bonus, as always. Oh I see I'm wearing beads here. Trust me, I did nothing ontoward to earn them!

Here's the gang with Mom somewhat squeezed into the picture.

And just us kiddos. Jim and brother-in-law Rick were the plus-ones of the day. So fun!

We wanted half of our drive to be in daylight so we left late afternoon and got home at 7:30 p.m. That gives us time to rest up for church and the Super Bowl tomorrow (in that order).

Hope you're enjoying a good weekend and are blessed to have a family as amazing as mine!

Family Christmas Number One

It was a white family Christmas Up North today. Well, the 4-hour commute was a bit icy and dicey in many spots, that's for sure. 

Still, we made sure to take a longer route so we could stop and see Dad.

Got to the Siren Senior Center a bit after 1 p.m. Saw this sign right away and I'm not sure who brought it, but I'm sure it was appropriate!

Had time for a little Sequence before lunch. Mom's got her game face on, that's for sure!

I made a Peppermint Bark Trifle for dessert and it stayed intact for the drive!

Did I need to make dessert? Turns out, not really. But you can never have to many desserts. Can you?

Speaking of sweets, our sweet boy Carter did a video call so Grandma could see him and his aunts, uncles and cousins, too! Virtual hugs just have to do sometimes, I guess.

Lots of littles there today. Got to meet my new great-nephew Arlo, who's about 6 months old.

It took a minute for Kloey and Nils to share. Do most 17-month-olds share? Not really!

They just need more blocks! Then it was easy to share! Such cuties!

Speaking of cuties... had to get my annual selfie with the niece who made me an aunt! Love my Car-Car.

The "Best Dressed" award should got to my great-nephew Michael who came straight from a hockey game.

Looks like a cut-throat game of UNO!

I still maintain I'm one of the tallest aunts. It just doesn't look like that when I'm paired with these two!

My twin loved the blanket I crocheted for her! It was my Hallmark-movie-multi-tasking project!

And look what she found for me – a fox decoration and fox sox! Love them!

My great-niece Millie says "I'm the No. 1 Lego tower builder!"

Somebody had to get those Packers sunglasses (I got at the game) out of my house! I told Nell she couldn't wear them since she wears glasses. "I can make it work!" And she did.

Mom and her twinsies!

Lene and I trying to prove that we're LADIES! 

Mom and her 8 R's! Hopefully someone got one where we're all looking at the same camera AND smiling!

And some of us were smiling at the end of the day! We did have to resort to watching some of the Vikings-Raiders game on a phone. But it was worth it to see the final few minutes. With a final score of 3-0, it must not have been very pretty to watch on the big screen anyway!

Hubby and I got home safely at 10 p.m. Roads were much better on the drive home. I mean, that's my opinion as a passenger both ways. Thanks for driving, sweetie! 

And thanks for another great Christmas celebration, family! 🎄