Christmas in Minnesota

You can't beat it ... Day 1, December 23: Departure from Atlanta uneventful. Traffic from Columbus was light. Economy parking lot full; at least we won’t have to walk so far to retrieve the car. Airport security moved pretty quickly. We got to our gate in record time. Pickup in MPLS uneventful; we actually arrived early. Timing at the baggage claim, good. I would rather wait a few minutes than have Dad circle the airport for an hour…traffic was crazy. Mom was still in the hospital so we went to see her. We were there for about an hour, got lunch to go, and went to the house to see Grandma. She had lunch cooking : ) We ate. My brother brought his extra car for us to use during our stay. He saved us about $300 in car rentals. For this I am grateful. We will spend a few days with him and his family. Does that sound like gratitude? Take his car, move in, and then kick him out of his bed. Went to visit Mom and discuss our options for Christmas Eve dinner. We had to work around her antibiotic schedule…every 12 hours which gave us plenty of time. Day 2, December 24: Called Mom about 9 a.m. The plan was to get her released for the day so we can go to my brother’s for dinner. We received Dr’s approval so we went and picked her up. We were in charge of the ham, so we could not leave till about 2. She could come home for a few hours. It has been two weeks since she was home. After surgery she went to the nursing home for physical therapy. As always, my bro’s house is immaculate. They repainted the kitchen and redecorated. It looks really nice. We will be spending the next two nights with him and his family. It will be fun. Actually, the most fun we had on the entire trip so far. Of course the nephew’s got a lot of really great gifts: Ipods, notebook computers, and some very expensive ski clothes. Mom, Dad, and Grandma left about 6. Mom was tired and Grandma was not feeling well either. My bro’s bedroom is very small. Day 3, December 25: We drove to St. Cloud to spend the day with TOM’s oldest sister and her daughter. We had a lot of fun that day. We visited for an hour and then we decided to try and find some food. Would you believe that the only place that was open was the casino? Well, it was and that was where we ate Christmas dinner. It was pretty good. Being at the casino we had to play. We gave Sis $20…she took home $60. She can really use the money. TOM won $100…paid for dinner. We did not tell my Dad. He would have felt left out. He likes the casinos. Day 4, December 26: Grandma is not well. She has blisters in her mouth and her face is swollen. We spend the day at the emergency room. By the time she gets checked into the hospital is it 6 p.m. We spent the whole day there. Apparently, she has shingles. Very contagious…just like chicken pox in the initial stages. I hope we (me and TOM) don’t have any problems. What a day. Wasn’t this supposed to be our vacation? Day 5, December 27: Mom got sprung. We brought her home about 12:00. We stopped by to see Grandma before we left. She is looking good. We don’t know when she will get out. Dad got home early from work so TOM and I made our escape to visit the brother in law. Anyway, we got to meet the new granddaughter. Pretty baby. We stayed for a couple of hours and then left for the hospital to visit TOM's sister. Seems to be a theme here… We had to drive thru rush hour traffic. Not good when you are not sure where you are. Anyway, we stayed with her for about an hour. She still looks rough, making progress tho. By the time we made it home my G-ma had been sprung. She looked terrible and was not feeling to good either. Hope she gets better so she can travel to Arizona next week. She has a sister that needs some looking after. Day 6, December 28: We spent the day taking care of sick people. Running to the doctor and the pharmacy, cooking, laundry, grocery shopping. I worked harder this trip than I ever do at home. Only one more day till I can head for home. Bro and his family came over to visit this evening. It is good to see them again before we leave. Day 7, December 29: We fly home today. We can finally get some rest. I do not even care that our flight is delayed. I am on the road, ready to go home. And it did not snow until the morning of our departure.

Today is my Birthday...

TOM had my youngest son buy me some speakers for the IPOD. It is nice not using the earbuds...they are not comfortable at all. And as my hearing is not too good in my right ear so I don't get the full benefit of them. Because it is my b-day, I told TOM that he had to go shopping with me. And he did, with a smile on his face. I have a couple of things to get my youngest. We are going to do a 7 Days of Christmas for him while we are gone so he won't feel so alone. I am going to hide some little gifts around the house. One for him to find each day that we are gone. We are going to have a beer and pretzel day, a sweet tooth day, a smell good day, a movie day, a money day...I still have to think of a couple of themes. But maybe this is enough. It will put a smile on his face. He doesn't do that enough. It is his b-day tomorrow. We will have some cake and ice cream. His brother is coming from Atlanta to see him. He has to work tho, so we won't have much time to do anything else. Maybe go to lunch. In any event, it will be a nice. Today was gorgeous by the way.

I Love Snowmen . . .

I received these cartoons and I thought they were funny. I do not know the origin so I can't give credit. Enjoy. . .

My mother had a total knee replacement yesterday. The surgery went will until the doc realized that he knicked an artery in her leg...They had to call in a vascular surgeon to fix it. Because of the little mishap she had to spend the night in intensive care. I called for an update today to see how see was doing and she is doing well. I did not get to talk to her tho. My bro is an RN so he was there to check up on her. He said she is doing fine and has a nice nurse to take of her. I really feel sorry for my Dad. He is not good at waiting at hospitals and I am sure that yesterday was hell for him. He got thru it tho. I bet he was really happy when the nurses told him to go home.

From the Urban Dictionary...Definition of coolbeans 1. Ultimate synomym of cool 2. When something is uber cool 3. WWII era slang for cool 4. When you don't want to say warmbeans

Christmas is fast approaching. Three weeks but I have finished my shopping. I still have to purchase a leather jacket for my son, but at least I know what I am looking for. It's not like I have to find it. I mailed the box of gifts to my Mom's house yesterday. I did ensure the package, but I sent it the cheapest way possible. One option would have been almost 50.00. That is more than I spent for any one gift in the box. We are traveling to MN on the 23rd...leaving from Atlanta...Do I need to say more? I can only hope that the weather is good at both ends, so at least that won't be a reason for delay. I will also be bringing my notebook and some dvd's so if I do get caught in the airport, I will have something to do. My boys are not traveling with us as they both have to work before and after Christmas. I did purchase a small fiber optic tree so that it would feel a bit more like the holiday. We will celebrate here on the 19th or 20th. It will be strange, but it is the best I can do, I promised my Mom I would be home for the holiday. Well, I better get to scanning. I still have a lot of photos to go. Of course I can always read a book, but when I get tired of doing that.