Wednesday, November 1 – Saturday, November 4
November 1 – On Wednesday, I attended the last “Intro to Fitness” class at the gym (warm-up and cool-down) and continued cleaning and pricing for the garage sale.
November 2 – Thursday was granddaughter (Vanessa’s) 19th birthday. We went to breakfast together and I gave her a basket with 19 of her favorite things: Raman noodle soup, fiery hot Cheetos, cucumbers & ranch dressing along with a $20 bill “to grow on”. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting more things ready and priced for the garage sale.
November 3 – I concentrated my efforts on Friday getting ready for Saturday’s neighborhood garage sale.
November 4 – I was up at 6:00 a.m. to start putting everything out for the sale which started at 7:30 (about the time the sun was coming up.) I finished getting things out around 8:30 and JP and Emma came over around 9:00 a.m. to help me. The sale ended at 2:30 and I think we made about $80. After the sale closed, I loaded up my car with unsold items and headed to Goodwill.
Sunday, November 5 – Saturday November 11
November 5 – After church, I loaded the car with things of Emma’s that didn’t sell yesterday to donate to the North River Care Pregnancy Center where I used to volunteer.
November 6 – After working at the school, I dropped off the items at the Pregnancy Care Center. In the evening, I went to the Christmas cantata practice at church.
November 7 – After school, I returned home and took care of house chores.
November 8 – I am taking Dad to a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. Since we have had really bad morning fog this week, I decided to drive to Ocala today. After visiting with Dad in the afternoon, I went out to his house in the forest to spend the night. I was surprised that most of his lights were not working, making it impossible for me to stay there. So, I returned to Silver Springs and stayed in a motel for the night.
November 9 – I picked Dad up at his rehab center and took him to the gastroenterologist’s office. The doctor took one look at the feeding tube and said, “That needs to be replaced!” He had his staff schedule the procedure as outpatient surgery at the West Marion Hospital the next day. I returned Dad to the rehab center and updated them, telling them I’d be back tomorrow to take him to the hospital. Then, I found another motel to stay in tonight.
November 10 – I had Dad at the hospital at 12:30 for his procedure which they told me would take most of the afternoon. In fact, we were at the hospital less than two hours and I was happy to get back home to Palmetto just before dark. Dad is doing fine.
November 11 – Today is Veterans’ Day. My husband, Rick, and his birth father, my father and his brother all served in the Navy. I indulged myself by staying in bed all morning watching Thanksgiving cooking shows on the Food Network. Then I took care of business in the afternoon.
Sunday, November 12 – Saturday, November 18
This week’s normal activities included: Sunday School and church; school volunteering on Monday and Tuesday; and choir practice on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
11/ 13 – After school, I loaded the car with more non-sold garage sale items and took them to Goodwill.
11/ 14 – Today was JP’s 38th birthday. I picked up lunch at Subway and went to his house to eat and give him his birthday gift.
11/ 15 – I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving on Wednesday.
11/ 16 – On Thursday, I met Jackie and her mother, Gladys, at the yacht club for lunch then picked up Jackie’s sister, and my friend, Ann, and took them out to the lot to see the property and the lot.
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11/ 17 – On Friday, I joined JP for a Thanksgiving lunch with Emma at her pre-school. We had a delicious meal. The children helped make the desert pies.
11/ 18 – On Saturday, I joined sisters, Jackie, Ann, Barbara and many of their extended family to celebrate Gladys’ birthday with a Thanksgiving dinner and birthday cake.
Sunday, November 19 – Saturday, November 25
This week’s normal activities included: Sunday School and church; no school volunteering due to a week-long Thanksgiving Holiday; and choir practice on Tuesday evening. Then there was a lot of prepping of the house and food for Thanksgiving.
11/20 – I went to the doctor on Monday who said that I most likely have shingles. He gave me pills to take for a week; said I couldn’t be around infants or go to retirement/nursing homes; and that I wouldn’t feel any better for at least two weeks. L I read on the internet that about the only thing you can do for yourself with shingles is avoid stress. So I didn’t do anything else that day.
11/21 – I got my haircut into a new, shorter style.
11/22 – Today would have been Rick’s 68th birthday. I miss him more than I can say. But, I have a great extended family, many of whom will be with me for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I made the Waldorf salad in the morning as well as mixing the mashed sweet potato casserole ingredients and preparing an egg casserole to refrigerate before JP and Emma came over for a visit. Shortly, thereafter, my niece Melissa and her son Michael arrived from Port Orange, Florida. In the evening, Melissa, Michael and I went to the Bradenton Yacht Club for supper and to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items she needed to make a corn casserole tomorrow.
11/23 – Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am very thankful for all of my family, especially the 12 that were here for dinner with another 2 for desert. I baked the egg casserole and was taking it out of the oven just as my brother, Bill, his wife Mary, and their daughter Christina arrived making it 6 for breakfast. They also brought with them, the cooked turkey (from Publix) and gravy. I explained I was supposed to have no stress and they immediately took over along with help from Melissa. Later, JP, Kellie, Emma and Vanessa arrived with 3 pies (pumpkin and peanut butter), green bean casserole, and stuffing. Next came Rick’s brother, Edward, along with nephew Mat and his girlfriend, Lindsay, who brought Sangria. I got a small ham ready which Mary put in the oven. She also boiled the white potatoes which we mashed together and helped me with the macaroni and cheese. While some were in the kitchen, some were watching football on TV.
After we ate, Kellie’s folks, Judy and Roy joined us. She brought some chocolate chip cookies to add to the pies and cupcakes that we had and a lovely cranberry bread for the next morning.
11/24 – We made no plans to go out today, trying to avoid Black Friday. We played Mexican Train Dominos in the morning.
(While taking a break they helped me get all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic.) Melissa and Michael had to leave mid-afternoon, so Bill, Mary, Christina and I watched football on TV and ate left-overs the rest of the day.
11/25 – In the morning, we went out to the new house building site.
JP came over just before noon to join us in watching the annual FSU vs UF football game. JP’s father (Rick) and I both attended FSU and Bill, Mary and Christina all graduated from the University of Florida. So, we have watched and attended many of these games. Though neither of our teams are having an outstanding year, I am happy to report that FSU was the victor. Go Noles!
Everyone left after the game and I ended the day quietly making good progress in eliminating the left-over left-overs.
November 26 through November 30
I overslept on Sunday missing Sunday school and church. In the afternoon, I went to the yacht club and put some lights on the boat. After going to school to volunteer on Monday, I got out the wire reindeer and put them in the yard. Tuesday, 11/28, was four months after Rick’s passing. JP and I met at the cemetery while they interned his ashes.
The rest of the week was dedicated to getting Christmas decorations up.
Our journey has been inspired by Joy and Steve Fredrick. You can see more of their story at