Congrats Brother Rose!

Yesterday the whole garden went to see my brother Rose get promoted to CW2. This is pretty big because now they commission warrant officers of CW2 and above. As a WO1 he only had a warrant (hence the Warrant Officer), but as a Chief Warrant Officer he now has a commission as an officer and may "command" troops.

Papa Pansy actually swore him in, in front of his unit. It was pretty cool. It's especially cool when your Dad is a retired BG (Brigadier General) and the highest ranking person in the building.

We all went to lunch afterwards and then the Ginger and Holly family all came to Mundelein to see the progress on the house and for Holly to take Gardenia out shopping.

BTW, Papa Pansy has started his new chemo regimen. It seems to be hitting him pretty hard. He is very tired and very sensitive to cold. Ginger brought a wheelchair and we wheeled him into and out of both the military building and the restaurant.

Saturday afternoon (I'm going backwards chronologically) we finished the first floor enough to bring up the Christmas tree and start decorating. We had to replace about 1,100 lights (about half) which, as you can imagine is quite the chore.

I spent Saturday the morning helping out the Boy Scouts. I'm a Unit Commissioner, and as part of the Commissioner staff we help with rechartering. All the rechartering is done at one time now so we had two big sites to handle that. I think I am getting back into the swing of things. I really want to be involved in Scouts and with my older two not interested, I think this is a good way.

Starting Again

It has been many moons since I've kept this blog up. I'm going to start again. I won't attempt to try to catch everyone up. I will start from this weekend and move forward.

Here in Mundelein we are remodeling our entire first floor, new appliances, new countertop, new cabinets, hardwood floors throughout.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. my father has started a new regemine and we will see how it goes.

Good Night Dear Lady

My Dad called me yesterday at about 9:15 to tell me that my maternal Grandmother (Bushia) had passed. She was a very special lady and with my Grandfather they were the role models for our marriage.

She had been in poor health, but there was nothing particullarly life threatening yesterday. We think she just decided that it was time to go be with Grandpa.

We will miss her very much.

The wake is Sunday night (14 June) and the funeral is Monday morning.

Broken Leg

It has been a VERY long time since I posted, but life is like that.

On 26 Apr 09 my beloved Gardenia broke her left leg and big toe. She fell down the stairs while I was at the grocery store. I rushed home and took her to the hospital.

She broke it very near her ankle, but the break is in the fibula. That bone is more for stability than weight bearing. She is in a boot cast. The doctor said that she will be completely healed (no pun intended) in about six weeks.

She spent the first two days not working, then the first two weeks not going in to the office. She worked on her stair and crutch skills. She went back in to work this last Monday.

Since I last posted Star had been awarded an Academic Letter for getting straight A's in her first three quarters of High School at Mundelein High School. She also started Track. She does Triple Jump, Hurdles and some sprints.

The other two are doing well, despite the scare of the broken leg.

We are planning on doing Volleyball again this Junior Olympics, but this year we are adding some track events and possibly my little Orchid will participate.

Epiphany 2009 An Audio Post

I have a special treat for you all today. I'm going to bring you up to speed with an audio post.

Enjoy.

Papa At Sweetpea's for Thanksgiving

I asked Papa to say a few words so everybody could SEE how he was feeling. Here is the video.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Almost all the flowers got together on the actual Turkey Day to celebrate Thanksgiving and for Petunia's Christening.

Gardenia and I went shopping Friday. Then all the Mundelein Flowers went to Uncle Sweet Pea's annual After Thanksgiving Pancake Breakfast.

Sunday and today we are putting up Christmas decorations. Everything is going according to plan except it started snowing yesterday and it's still snowing. I can't put up the outside decorations. Curses!

This is the place you can comment on my poll. What is your favorite Christmas Movie. Mine's It's a Wonderful Life.