.

The service was quite a bit different than ours - even though ours changes every week and is never the same... sOMething is the same that wasn't here. Not better... just different! But I can't really put my finger on what it was. Probably had to do with the praise team... but I'm not sure. OUR church definitely does not have a children's bell choir - and the kids who performed
today at St. Mark's did a GREAT job!!! I was very excited to have seen them! I enjoyed the entire service... it was wonderful!

After church, I took Alex and went back to the house to pick up two more rug rats! Then I took all the boys back to the hotel pool to swim for a bit. They had a ball!

We went to a cute little place for lunch yesterday -

We don't have one of these in Maryland that I know of.
They have really yummy sandwiches, burgers, soup & salads.

We had a great time!
(around the table L_R)
Betty, Penny, Ella, Dr. John, Mom

But DARN if Ella did have mOre fun than an
elephant oughta!
Little monkey!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh! She discovered that Lindburgh ladies HAT!
She said she wasn't trying to steel it - she just wanted
to "try it on"...
ummmmm.... NO!
(for the record, Dr. John thought I oughta let her)

Of course HE was also the one who said "no no no! Don't
get her down! She's being CUTE. I have to get a picture!
(and here, I was counting on HIM to keep her in line on
THIS visit!)

You know... Elephants aren't even allowed IN the museum.
All I wanted to do was keep us from getting kicked out!

All Ella was trying to do was figure out how to fly SOMEthing!
Anything... she wasn't picky!

But she thought this one was a little too small.
I guess you do need to be able to get IN the cockpit to be
able to fly...

She wanted to know what those propellers were for anyway...
we told her they have to be spinnin' for the plane to get off
the ground! Next thing we knew she was trying her best!

Thankfully the Spirit of St. Louis was waaaaay to high for
her to get to! She was eyeballin' that baby! She thought
it looked JUST right for her!

But that was only until she saw...

THIS!
Then it was all over!

She was in that cockpit faster than you could SAY cockpit!
Pullin' the throttle, and pushin' ALL the buttons! The engine
started... the NOISE was incredible ... and security came running!

That was the end of our visit...
NO ELEPHANTS ALLOWED!!!

Oh well... we didn't really wanna see that museum anyway...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poem A Day Ketchup

Yesterday's prompt was to write a poem about regret. So here it is!

Sorrowful am I
That time flies by
While I'm on vacation
Halfway across the nation
Where the hours must be shorter
By at least a quarter
And yet I am so stubborn
And there is no RHYME for stubborn
This challenge I will not give up
Yup!
And though it's not because I'm spiteful
This weeks poetry is frightful.
Not yours, of course... mine!
Because I'm just so behind!



Today's prompt is to write about travel.... SHOULD be easy, huh?

From Maryland I drove
on the wide open road
in the pouring down rain
past rivers and trains
To Wisconsin I went
My mind was hell-bent
to visit some friends
Now our fun never ends
But there's simply no time
to make silly rhymes
There's to much to do
with our whole motley crew
My time here is shrinking
And now I am thinking
This poem is done
I am off to have fun!!!

I learned more about saffron and saffron BUNS than I ever knew it was possible to know! And I'm not even going to TELL you how much saffron costs -- but these little rolls would sell for about $20 a piece on the black market!!! It's crazy! NEXT time you go to the grocery store, look in the spice section and see if your store sells saffron. Then ask yourself how much do you have to put into a batch or buns? The whole jar goes into a HALF batch! But look how much is ACTUALLY in that jar! It is really nuts!

Betty met me in the driveway and we hugged of course! She is the LITTLEST thing! She is even shorter than MOM! And what a doll! Just so sweet! Then we went in the house and I finally got to MEET Dr. John! Yep - I hugged him good and proper too! Oh he complained - of course he did! But I told him if he kept it up I'd do it again!

I also got to meet Maggie. I didn't take a picture of Maggie... darn I should have... I will... She is a darling bouncy puppy of an English Springer Spaniel - I thought cocker - but I was WRONG! But she's only 2 years old - and she has just as much energy as a two year old! She wants to play and be loved on all day long! Really cute! A little too wild for Mom though, and sadly had to spend the majority of the day in her crate. :(

I got to their house about 10ish I guess... and yakked and yakked and yakked straight through until we decided to go get some lunch where we continued yakking and then went back to the house to re-teach me how to play Canasta! I picked it back up very quickly. I do think they play by some different rules than what I used to play - but they said they were teaching me to play cut-throat --- and I know I had not played that before. But I loved it! I really DO love to play cards - so it was great!

Ugh! I was in the middle of writing the rest of my day today which was aggravating ... but had some good moments too... Mom & I stopped in Chicago to look around the city a bit... and the funny part was Mom in the revolving doors! It was crazy! She kept trying to CLOSE them when she came out! And she kept trying to pull them instead of push! It really was hysterical... she was laughing too....

... but after I got here (to Neenah) and called Dr. John... then it ALL fell apart! Mom hadbeen living in the 60's most of the day today. She kept looking for her little children. If she was in the front seat, she thought they were in the back seat, and if she was in the back seat then she thought they were in the McDonald's bag or the Harley Davidson bag, or, of course - the front seat! I ended up having to pull over on the side of the road to put her in the back seat anyway because she kept grabbing things in the car and shifting things around - taking the drinks OUT of the cup holders and trying to balance them on the console... Then she started grabbing my directions insisting they were a perscription for her meds that I was trying to keep from her. It was just different stuff all day - you can't possibly keep track of it all! But tonight at the hotel was the worst! She keeps trying to leave the room -- she believes George & Dennis are IN the building somewhere and she wants to find them. Then she wants to go cook something --- she has not cooked in YEARS - but today she was feeling very domestic! She wanted to take care of her babies and cook for the family. Then she started asking about dinner for "daddy" - turns out HER daddy - and she was greatly insulted when I ASKED if we were talking about her father, Charles or Dennis. She said "I DON'T call Charles daddy!" But the problem is not in anything she SAYS --- I can handle anything spoken! The PROBLEM is the getting out of the room - and nightmares of last night! She has snuck out of the room while I was going to the bathroom I found her down at the elevator lobby. She couldn't figure out how to make it work, and while I was arguing with her to come back to the room, the elevator opened and she went in and started pushing buttons! I grabbed the door, and her, and had to wrestle her back to the room. She's little - but she's fiesty! When Igot her back the room she was kicking me and pinching me and slapping me! I slapped her back.... Then I through her down on the bed and physically restrained her until I could get her calmed down enough to quit hitting me and kicking me. And all the while I'm just wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO DO???? I had talked to the front desk when I first got here - and they were going to send security out to get a motion detector for the door - it would set of an alarm if the door moved during the night. But that will still only keep me up fighting her all night. So I looked at the set up and thought a small chain with a pad lock might work. We had to go out to get bandaids anyway -- Mom is a bloody MESS! Honestly - her skin is PAPER thin and rips so easily -- she bruises constantly! And I was NOT holding her gently! I was fighting her! It was crazy! So we went and got the bandaids --- and I found chains - but if they were small enough to let the door still close, then they were also too small for the pad lock to fit through - even the tiniest pad lock. So in a moment of GENIUS - I think God helped - I thought of electrical ties - or cable ties! I bought a pack of them and a scissor so I can cut them off quickly -- and they work like a champ!!! I hope! When she's determined, who knows.... but if they keep her in the room, I'll put my earplugs in and she can have at that door ALL NIGHT if she wants to! At one point when I was holding her down she threatened to call the police on me. If she knew how, I probably would have let her! They would have taken her away to the psych floor! Instead I just called Dennis crying.... *SOB* I made Mom a bloody mess! WHAT!? That poor man.... he's a thousand miles away ... what the heck is HE supposed to do??? He talked to her... she did settle down some... If this all sounds disjointed and fragmented - just imagine what it was like on MY end! Right now, she has had a total of 5 brown pills and two blue pills -- and she's talking and telling stories and laughing in her sleep! I think I should take a couple of blue pills myself!!!

I am realllllllllllllllllllllly looking forward to seeing Dr. John and Betty tomorrow! And he told me this evening that on Saturday we are all going to Green Bay! YAY! To a TRAIN expo! Awwwww.... Dennis would like that...