NOVEMBER 09, 2008 - WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL WEEKEND

SECOND ATTEMPT AT A BIRTHDAY CAKE THIS DAY!! EUNICE TRULY LOVES THE CAKE!! THAT LOOK ON HER FACE IS SIMPLY THE RESULT OF THREE BAILEY'S IRISH CREMES AT SUPPER!! Sorry Eunice, I simply can not tell a lie!!

UGLIEST BIRTHDAY CAKE IN ENTIRE WORLD!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BUTT UGLY BIRTHDAY CAKE OR ANY TIME CAKE!! Only in this neighborhood, could I produce such an ugly cake and be told it is beautiful and just fine!!

Hello All My Dearest Ones

I had my first really fully packed, and mobile, weekend I have had since May, 2002!!!

I am beyond exhausted, but it is a GOOD exhausted!

Max returned to his old haunts drinking, gambling and a big dose of pathological lying!! I was personally greeted by an IRS Agent on Wednesday of this past week!! I thought "OH, NO!! This could be real trouble!!", however, they made it perfectly clear several times "THIS DOES NOT CONCERN YOU!!

Okay!! This truly works for me!! Big sigh of RELIEF!! I was given a message, that should I have contact with Max that he was to call a phone number they left and that "if, they had not been contacted by Max by this past Friday, that they would be personally finding him theirselves!!"!! Okie, Dokie!! This again works for me!! Thus, I did leave a few messages for Max about town which I rarely do for any reason!! Max decided at 1:37 A.M., Thursday morning, to re-start-up his verbal abuse of me!! I DON'T THINK SO - NOT ANY LONGER WITH THIS WOMAN!! Well, Eunice's husband, Marion, has just went through some enlightenment to the fact that he was suppposed to be Max's AA Sponsor!! Max had called me to tell me that Marion could no longer be his AA Sponsor because Eunice and Marion were so close to me!! Marion has NEVER been Max's AA Sponsor EVER!! Max further told me that "Harvey" had now replaced Marion!! And, furthermore, that Max was finally ready to do Steps Four and Five of the AA Twelve Steps after contemplating them since 1999!! Oh, how really lame Max!! It seems "Harvey" advised Max to go get a motel room where he could have peace, quiet and cleanliness away from the "Animal House" Room he rents from another AA member who evidently also has never turned his life to AA Twelve Step Program, but shows up regularly!! Thus, Max went off the weekend prior to this one, to "find himself" and then confess what "pains he had inflicted on other people" to his new AA Sponsor, "Harvey"!! Well, everyone rolled their eyes to this whopper, but as long as Max was leaving me alone, pay for a motel room for the weekend, even though he owes "MY MOTHER" $500!!! Gee, Max do you think you could start atoning and pay the 80-year old woman who helped you out, and just close yourself into your plush suite at the "Animal House"!! Probably not, but when you drink at a casino, it just seems easier to pay the $89 per night and just stay there!! Well, dear Marion was quite worried about Max, (One of these times, Marion is going to add up all the lies and deceit and quit caring at all) and the IRS "contacting" him on Friday as when the verbal abuse began upon waking me on Thursday morning at 1:37 a.m. I promptly slammed down the telephone and took it off the hook!! Thus, Max did not inquire or care about getting the IRS information from me and just decreed "he would be up after dialysis that morning"!! I had told him, I found I actually do have a life despite his best efforts to make me a homebound invalid and perhaps I would not be home "after dialysis"!! This was the point when the verbal abuse began, although the slurring of each word was kind of hard to tell!! Thus, dear Marion did go to the AA meeting place on Thursday morning and tried to find out if some one knew of how to get ahold of Max as he had a bit of an important matter to handle through HIS WIFE!! No response, so Marion went to "Harvey" and asked about he getting ahold of Max since HE was Max's AA Sponsor!! Well, it seems this was the first "Harvey" had heard about Max having him as his AA Sponsor!! Opps, Max caught like a rat in a trap!! My father always said, "just give him enough rope, as he hangs himself every time" and my father was NEVER wrong!

This whole couple of days was WAY too much drama for me!! But, it was such a fitting prelude to my weekend!! I again proved over and over and over I CAN and MIPREZIOUS AND I ARE OKAY!!

On Thursday afternoon, I was quite upset yet from my rude awakening that morning way too early!! Eunice told me to take the phone off the hook and take a nap as she had a manicure and pedicure appointment at 4:00 p.m. that afternoon and that she would take me out some where to simply get out of the house while she was at Spa!! I opted for Wal-Mart!! Wanda had just had me out to Wal-Mart on Monday evening!! I got a full cart with Wanda and was just overjoyed to have gotten to Wal-Mart and not having a raving lunatic attached to me screaming he would leave me at Wal-Mart if I did not leave immediately with him iregardless if I was only half way through my list as Max "had important things to do"!! I remember those days of just having to get to the casino on the last visit he took me to Wal-Mart!! Well, Eunice just pulled up to the front doors of Wal-Mart and got me secured on one of those miraculous riding carts and told me to enjoy myself!! And, enjoy I did!! I just finally got to do my complete list which ended up being another full cart!! I needed to get a water filtration system for my "home" and since I have continued to fall asleep in my chair while stitching and continued to fall out, Eunice wanted me to start getting into my bed to stitch at night!! Now, we all know how hard of a position this is to get in to!! Since I spent the last six years pretty much homebound in bed a majority of the time positioning was not my problem, while lighting was!! Thus, I had to find a new light that would attach to the headboard of my bed!! And, I did find a really nice and very bright lamp that is doing the job really well!! And, there was several other just little things I have always wanted to pick up!! About two hours later, Eunice called my cell phone to tell me she was in the parking lot of Wal-Mart and she wanted to know where I was!! I told her I had checked out and that I was firmly attached to the bench in the front foyer of Wal-Mart!! Eunice told me to stay right where I was!! Thus, Eunice proceeded to come in Wal-Mart just for bananas!! Well, she promptly had the Wal-Mart Greeter lock up my full cart of things and she put me in yet another one of those fantastic riding carts!! And, off we went!! And, did we go!! Eunice came out with pretty much as full of a cart as I had and I had additionally picked up four bags of "chewy" candies as my last hurrah!! And, Eunice called for "Carry-Out" Person ASAP!! We got home and got unpacked and I was really tired!!

Eunice sat and chatted for awhile and got ready to go over to her own home!! Before she left, she asked me if I wanted to go to a Martin Luther King UNITY Fund Raiser the next evening that Wanda (Eunice's best friend here and now my good friend and part-time Caregiver) was very much a part of!! We went and we had a fantastic dinner and a "little" wine!! It did not take me much of that wine to get a real "buzz" combined with my daily morphine dosage!! I had forgotten all about my days of going out for "a drink"!! Another item to cross off my "bucket list" of once again reclaiming my freedom!! We had a real nice evening of food, wine and really great conversations!!

Eunice brought me home and got me resettled in on Friday evening. She then told me she would be over first thing Saturday morning and she would get me set up for online banking for my household accounts!! Well, she ended calling me about noon, I was still in bed in spite of Granny Lou trying to check if I was okay earlier, to tell me change of plans!! Granny Lou is a real dear as she calls me every morning to make sure I am able to get out of my bed and that I am okay for the day!! Fortunately, I have had very few problems, but she is over in a few minutes if I indicate I am having any problems whatsoever!! Well, Eunice has several "adoptees", besides me, that she has inherited over the years she taught BD Students at the local High School.

One of her "adoptees", "Ben", was making a very vain attempt to get back to Clinton to see his sister before she passed from California!! Ben was on an AmTrak Train and was due in the nearest Train Depot about 150 miles east of us in Galesburg, Illinois. And, needless to say, we were off to the Train Depot in Galesburg, Illinois!

And, this was one of the most horrific things I had heard yet of our local medical community!! This "sister" was in her early 50's in age. She had a slight mental condition that only was evident in that she needed to be supervised while living alone. She had fallen and the Step-Mother who was supposed to have been taking care of her evidently was not. A sister found this poor woman on the floor where she had laid for the prior three days!! She was taken by 911 Ambulance to the hospital. I believe she was found to have a broken hip and surgery was scheduled and began!! Immediately, upon the start of this surgery for her hip she was found to have a massive cancer which was fast taking over her bones!! She had an ulcerated area that was quite large and that continually had bled, but no one noticed or cared!! Thus, she was taken to one of the local "hellhole" Nursing Homes from the hospital!! Ben was called in California and immediately began making his way to Iowa!! Evidently, some time on Friday, this poor woman was simply told she was going to die!! Her response was crying to the point of hysteria and she was totally alone!! A sister arrived some time from the East coast in the wee morning hours of the night on Saturday morning and immediately went to the Nursing Home!! Early Saturday morning, the sister that was passing in the Nursing Home was able to contact Ben via cell phone while he was stilll on the train. He said all he was able to hear was her hysterical crying for quite some time!! Then, he said there was a complete silence and some stranger picked up the phone and simply told Ben that his sister had suddenly quit crying, put a smile on her face and simply proceeded to pass on to heaven (this woman had surely served her Hell on earth)!! Well, at least, this is what I hope happened!! But, nevertheless, NEVER have I heard of such total

tackiness and inappropriate handling by a Nursing Home!! I do not personally know these people, but if Eunice said they were good people then you can be sure they were just that!

I can not get the vision of this slightly mentally challenged woman alone in that Nursing Home and being told she was going to pass while alone with no one with her!! And, to be left just to cry herself into hysteria state and go in to the process of passing from this earth!! I think this is nothing short of negligence of that Nursing Home!! Thus, Ben's sister passed at 8:09 a.m. Saturday morning while we did not even reach the Train Depot until about 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon and we had to make the 150 mile trip back to Clinton again!! This is still a cruel world to some people!!

Well, Eunice once again got me returned to my home and resettled!! I had just went along to keep Eunice company on that long journey!! But, we had a real nice chat along the way!!

Eunice and I have been going "shopping" for about a month now every Sunday morning!!

We are shopping for a church that we both can relate to and enjoy together!! Eunice's husband, Marion, may join us after we find where we intend to settle in to!! Thus, we had to decide where we were going to head this morning so we could find out time and place!! Eunice was raised Catholic and for that matter so was I. Eunice is kind of wanting to check out the Catholic community here!! I truly have no interest in settling in to the Catholic community and church!! I have nothing against the Catholics, but since I am divorced the Catholic community deems me unfit to be entitled to my rights to have Communion and other sacraments of the Catholic church!! I just can not relate to this nor am I too comfortable with this!! Some years ago, I found a church home with the Episcopalian community here. I jokingly refer to it as my Catholic-lite!! I became very good friends with the Episcopalian priest that was here at the time I did join that church. He loved, and would find any, and every, reason he could to be invited over here for dinner!! Thus, we decided to check out my old home church that I was very active in up until my accident and Max's adamant refusal to take me to any church service!!

Well, the Episcopalians must be early risers, as the church service began at 9:30 a.m. this morning!! That is a wee bit early for Eunice!! She does real well at 10:00 p.m. although!! We were just a smidgen bit late!! Unbeknown to Eunice, there are no side aisles we could just ease into a pew from in this church!! No, just one small main aisle!! I had no idea how far into the mass they had gotten prior to our arrival, but I was well aware they had gotten started WITHOUT US!! I had just remarked to Eunice that the priest, Mother Sue, would probably drop when she actually saw me coming into the church for the first time!! Mother Sue is a phenominal lady who happens to be an Episcopal Priest!! And, a very good job she does!! And, she did come to a silence and loose her place upon our arrival and having to try to wheel down the main aisle at least half way into the church!! And, next thing, I realize, Mother Sue, is welcoming back the old member who has been absent a number of years and the brand new visitor!! I wanted to crawl under a pew!! Mother Sue has been very good about bringing me Communion under special circumstances outside of the church and also annointing me for special blessing of the ill throughout my years absent in my home and in spite of Max's crude and rude treatment of her right up until this past year's Christmas week!!

It was a very special and moving time for me this morning!! Communion time came and the usher arrived at our pew!! I began to try and get up on my own to go to Communion and a dear friend in the pew behind me told me I did not have to go to the Communion Rail in front of church as Mother Sue would come down to me. I told her I truly appreciated this, but I WANTED to make my way, on my own, on my walker!! Eunice was full of apprehension as she was not familiar with being just allowed to go to Communion without the benefit of Confession, etc., etc. and my new announcement of "I CAN" go to Communion Rail myself on my walker!!

I never had so many pairs of hands on my walker and myself!! I felt like the lead locomotive of a train!! But, I DID IT!! And, upon Mother Sue reaching me she had already pulled her holy oil out and gave me a special annointing for healing and Communion!!

It was so wonderful seeing all the many people I knew from some six to seven years ago!!

And, there was no chance of Eunice and I leaving that church without coffee, brownie and welcome box!! We went into church hall and had a cup of punch and were given a welcome box from one of the men in the church!! He was the same man who caught us exiting the sanctuary and put a pen in my hand and insisted we sign the visitng book!! He then offered us calendars, prayer books, sign-up sheets and asked if I could use pick-up to church any Sunday!! Upon our finally being able to leave we where given nicely wrapped boxes by this same man and he offered to carry them out for us to my van!! It was truly a very lovely welcome back and I truly felt like I had never been gone!

I sincerely hope Eunice found it fulfilling for her and that we will give it additional chances to become our home church!! It will be hard to go any where else now, but I will as Eunice and I made a deal to "shop" until we found exactly what we both wanted!!

Our day got real hectic from that point on so I have not had an opportunity to really be able to hear what Eunice thought!!

And, right as we were leaving the church hall one of the more elderly ladies popped up and said Hello to us!! She looked right at me and began pointing her finger at me and I thought, oh no, what did I do and did not do now!! And, loudly she shouts, "you are the bazaar lady" and my first thoughts were how could she have come to that opinion of me as I had not even been introduced to her yet!! And, I so much as told her this for lack of little else to say!! She then clarified herself and told of all my stitching things I had donated over the years and who had what hanging in their homes!! I wanted to say, would you all mind emailing me pictures of these wonderful things as my "finishes" are a bit on the slim side this year!! Of course, wiped out of my memory were several wonderful sounding projects actually finished!!

Once again Eunice got me back into my home and resettled!! Eunice's birthday is tomorrow, Monday, November 10. Yesterday while enroute back home from the Train Depot, Eunice's cell phone rang and it was her son from Chicago!! He asked what she had planned for her birthday as he and his girlfriend were going to come on out to Clinton, about 3 hour trip, for the day. Eunice said "the neighbors" were taking her out for dinner at 5:00 p.m., but other than that she had no plans. So, her son said he would be here on Monday!! Well, Eunice "thought" she was going to go out for dinner just with Marion, Granny Lou and myself, but that was not "quite" the drill we had planned!!

Before I get ahead of myself and forget, I promptly had to get into my wrapped box from the church!! And, Miprezious made it easy work in a very few minutes as she loves to "open"!! In the box, was a lovely fairly large big ole coffee mug along with some lovely coffees and teas. But, then tucked away among the phamlets and booklets was a lovely loave of home made banana nut bread!! What more incentive would you need to read the enclosed literature, short of a reader popping out of the box also!! This church has really went out for the close of every deal with every one they encounter!! I called Eunice and asked if she had opened her box yet. She had and was amazed also!! I told her we did not get any thing from the Baptist visits we had made the prior two weeks. And, I told her we had to start checking as to who was giving out what!! We could easily acquire a nice collection of things in our "shopping" yet!! LOL!!

Well, Eunice had left her husband for church this morning with the request of "no breakfasting after" as he REALLY wanted to see a new movie here at theaters called "Apalloosa"!! Eunice was under impression this was going to be one of her favorite flicks being a western!!

Well, after getting resettled in my home last night, I thought about Eunice's son's telephone call and thought why should she have to cut her visit with him short to go out to dinner with us!!
So, I called Granny Lou and told her of the new development in our party Monday plans!!

We decided we could easily go out for dinner on Sunday evening as well as Monday as Marion has both days off from work!! So, Granny Lou and I make a "conference" call to Eunice to decide on changing dinner plans to Sunday night instead of Monday night so Eunice could enjoy son's visit!! Eunice thought this would be wonderful!! Thus, I had to call every one else and hope they also had Sunday free!! And, every thing was changed to this evening and all planned on attending!! Thus, I want Eunice to leave my home to go to her home after church so I could begin attempting to bake my first birthday cake in seven years!! Good thing I had early start!!

Eunice had went back across the street and was preparing to go to the movies with her husband!! I was frantically trying to figure out how I was going to make a "coconut" birthday cake!! I was staring aimlessly out my kitchen window thinking Eunice and Marion should be pulling out of their driveway soon to get to the movie theater!! And, right before my eyes should appear, a small red car in front of Eunice's home!! They were due to leave any minute!! And, what did I next see? Eunice's son and his girlfriend!! I just thought what was he doing here today when he was due here tomorrow!! Well, he got to thinking also last evening and thought well if his mom was going out for dinner with neighbors on her birthday Monday than he would just come on out today on Sunday!! Talk about slapstick silent movies!! This neighborhood was fast becoming one big one!! And, I am looking out my kitchen window, thinking does no one else notice Eunice's son arriving a day early now!! Guess not!! So, I turn to put me cake into the oven and I pivot back up to window and Eunice's truck is gone!! Now, I am thinking, did her son go to the movies with them or what!! How could four people move that darn fast!!

So, I am again thinking, do I call EVERYONE again and reschedule Eunice's birthday party to Monday again!! Well, soon my oven timer was going off and from that point on I had very little time to fret over the day of the party as it appeared we were going to be lacking a birthday cake!!

Above you can see "Butt Ugliest Birthday Cake in all of America"!! I thought things were just going too well with my cake!! I could not do some thing that easy!! I went over to take the cake out of the oven and pure terror filled my body!! One end was as thin as paper and the other end had to be 3 inches high!! However, the thin end was getting too dark and the thick end was still soup!! So, I think put it back in the oven so I could at least throw it out of the pan in one piece such as it was!! And, I begin cake number two!! I don't have enough ingredients for another German Chocolate Cake so I make a White Cake!!

I figured out what I had done!! My oven rack was on lowest position in oven so I tried to move it upwards!! I put one end on two and the other end on three!! Perfect ski slope cake!!

And, at this point, Eunice calls me on her cell phone about 3:00 p.m. Eunice and Marion were to have been in movie till 4:45 p.m. and plans were for they to meet Granny Lou and I out at Applebee's Restaurant as it is out by movie theaters!! Eunice then tells me her son came to town and did I still want to go to dinner tonight or did I want to reschedule the reschedule back to tomorrow night!! I am frazzled by now!! Eunice has phone on speaker so Marion knew what to do!! I finally just told Eunice we had a few "other" people, a mere dozen more, invited to meet us at Applebee's at 5:00 p.m.!! Well, Eunice still did not catch it as she was trying to tell me they had just seen the worst and shortest "western" movie ever!! Apalloosa is NOT a western, it is about a city named Apalloosa and Marion and Eunice hated the movie!! Finally, I said, "Eunice, you are going to make me have the reputation of a blabbermouth!!" Eunice asked what did I mean. I told her that I had birthday cake and ice cream at my home also!! She had been oblivious hearing there were other people coming!! Eunice proceeds to admonish me for going out again after she had taken me home and resettled me!! And, she wanted to know WHO had taken me out!! I told her I had not went out!! She wanted to know where the birthday cake had come from then!! I told her I had baked them as I had no bakery open today to get a bought cake!! And, I told her it was "coconut"!! Eunice lit up then!! Oh, we could just go on with dinner plans and cake and ice cream later then tonight!! Okay, we are all back on same night again at this point!! So, I start to tell her about my failed German Chocolate Cake!! And, all I hear is Marion yelling "DO NOT dump that chocolate cake and he had dibs on it"!! So, Eunice and Marion said they would come on back home and then we all could go out to restaurant together!!

Now, Marion did not even know about all the other dozen people!! So, I finally told her there would be too many as Wanda was going to ride out with us!! Well, this also delighted Eunice!!

So, we agreed to take two vehicles to the restaurant!!

I am rushing to get myself ready to go to dinner and a guy I know called to "chat" about "my husband"!! I thought no not today!! This guy proceeds to tell me that he has big and ugly men beating on his apartment door attempting to find Max as he owes them money!! Max is doing business with THREE of these "Pay-Day Loan Stores"!! I can not believe this!! The man gets over $3,000 per month and only pays $225 per month for his room at the "Animal House"!! He has not paid one penny towards the $5,000 plus in medical bills he owes for himself!!

Nor, has he attempted to pay one penny to my mother who he owes $500 to!! BUT, yet he is "giving" our local casino almost $3,000 per month and still borrows from PAY-DAY Loan Stores!! Some thing is very wrong with this picture!! And, this man who called me is the very guy who gave Max a place to stay until he found the "Animal House" room when I told him he had to leave MY HOME!! And, Max thanks this man for his generousity by giving these Loan Stores the man's address and phone numbers!!! This poor man is forunate to be on the National Donor Transplant List and he is towards the top and near getting a new kidney!! But, yet Max has got Loan Sharks tying up this man's phones and coming to his door!! Well, Max has definitely hit a new all time low for even him!!

I again begin to start getting ready to go to dinner and I am now running late!! But, soon Wanda arrived to drive my van out to Applebee's and also picks up Granny Lou!! Wanda proceeds to tell me that yet another couple from out-of-town has arrived and she has invited them out to the restaurant also!! I am totally bewildered and confused by this time!! By the time, we arrived at the restaurant we now had half of the restaurant taken up by our party!! And, did we party!! We all had a very, very nice dinner and great conversation!! The restaurant manager suddenly showed up at our table and I thought he was playing a joke on Eunice for her birthday!!

For all I knew, I almost thought he was a stripper some one of all of us had hired at first!! It seemed that he suddenly was apologizing for our wait on dinner!! None of us had noticed there was a wait for dinner as we all were having such a good time!! The manager took 10% off the bill due to our having to wait!! Go figure!!

From the restaurant we all came back to my home for cake and ice cream!! Kind of not knowing what I should do with the extra coconut pecan frosting I just started to ice the chocolate mess cake!! I got about half of it iced!! And, what do you think every one asked for when it came to having cake - every one wanted a piece of "that" chocolate!! Marion finally said he had dibs on that chocolate cake and that it was not fit to eat so he would just take care of it!!

We all continued to have a very good time at my home!! As it turned out, Eunice's son had to turn around and drive back to Chicago yet tonight as his girl friend had a big test in her nurse's college at 8:00 a.m. in the morning that she simply could not miss!! Thus, they had to get on the road again!! They needed to go back over to Eunice's to get their dog and some other things. Eunice insisted she was staying with me until she had every thing cleaned up as she thought I would drop if I were up any longer!! And, that very great new Caregiver I just got, Wanda, stepped right up and told Eunice to "go home and see your son" as she was going to stay and get every thing cleaned up and me resettled for the night again!! So, Eunice got to go home with her son!! And, just before they left, Eunice's son leaned over and gave me a kiss and hug and said "welcome to the family, Sister"!!

I do not know who had the better day Eunice or myself!! But, we have become such good friends I am sure we would be more than willing to share each other's birthdays also!!

Now, needless to say, I got little stitching done the later part of this week and none done this weekend!! I have some parts left on my stitched piece for the "12 Days of Xmas" exchange in addition to doing a "finish" on it also!! That is first priority the first part of this week and then mailings I have sitting here!! And then, I very sincerely hope to move some of my "Stash To Go" out of here before my surgery on the 20th!!

And, this was so precious also today!! My mother called me!! Well, with your surgery on the 20th I think we better forget Thanksgiving this year!! I asked why was this!! And, my mother says well I would certainly be in no shape to cook that soon!! And, I said, quite jokingly, well Mother, I kind of was planning on Turkey Soup and Creamed Corn!! Well, okay, but she did not "think I would want her regular pecan pie with my mouth being so sore, not to mention all the probable stitches, so she would figure out a cream pie that she could bring"!! Dah!! Hello Mother!! I told Eunice about her call and she said she was planning on coming over and putting a turkey in for over here!! I don't even really like turkey, much less do I feel like I need a turkey this year!! But, perhaps Eunice knows my mother better than I do!! I just have to laugh about it all!!

Welcome to my world on a more average weekend around here!! However, I do feel such a great feeling of freedom starting to come back to me again!! Many tried to tell me that Max simply wanted me to be a homebound invalid who knew about very little or truly even cared at that point!! I am turning all his I Can NOT into I CAN and I WILL!!

Miprezious and I are doing real great, become happier each day and are surely OKAY!!

Love and Hugs!

Deborah

and

Miprezious, too!!