Cheering Up

I'm getting closer to being caught up on my blogs! Hopefully, tonight my internet access is a little better than the other night when I was trying to work. One drawback to using a phone for the internet connection is that sometimes the signal isn't as strong as one would like. I kept getting knocked off the other night, which made saving and properly spacing paragraphs a real nightmare.

But anyway... the first half of last week was a little rough with Julie's death and funeral. And my heart still hurts over that. I imagine it will for some time. But the last half was really kind of good. I don't know if it was an intentional thing or not, but I had loved ones who seemed to go out of their way to spend time and provide opportunities for me to have fun and put aside the earlier sadness.

The day after the funeral - Thursday - Sara drove down. I always love spending time with her and the girls. That's her Emily up there with Sam. Melissa had school, so we just met out at the mall with our littlest ones. Emily and Sam are Sara's and my "unexpected blessings." I had my first two, and then 8 months before David was born, Sara had Melissa. Then, I miscarried in '01. A year later Sara miscarried. Then, neither one of us could get pregnant for anything for years and years. Finally, I was, in the spring of '07. I had let Sara know and she promptly sent me all her baby things. She had run a daycare out of her home for a number of years and had finally closed it up. So, she had a number of baby things to dispose of and I was happy to recieve them since I had gotten rid of all my baby stuff years earlier! Here's the funny thing: Sara sent the baby things down in June. It was not two weeks later that Sara called to let me know that she, too, was miracle of all miracles, pregnant again! Sam was born in late October and Emily arrived during the Superbowl three months later! So that was fun, having babies that close together!

Anyway, back to Thursday: It was just a very nice, relaxing day, which was especially nice after the intensity of the day before. Sara had attended Julie's viewing and I, of course, went to the funeral. We were able to talk and compare notes on that. At one point, Sara said wistfully, "You know - I just wish I had known Julie better. And now it's too late." I know what she means. So we did some shopping and then we went back to my house. Poor Sara got stuck on Orchard Street. I forgot to tell her that you don't want to travel up our street in the winter - it's uphill, icy, and never thoroughly plowed. Fortunately, Will and the local schoolbus driver were able to get her unstuck. Then we sat in the kitchen for a couple of hours, ate, talked and watched the kiddos play. Nice day!

That evening was our city council meeting, which usually means date night. But we decided to postpone that by a night for several reasons. I'm glad we did because we ended up having an awesome date Friday night! Normally we just go to the Checkerboard and then go home again - not too exciting, but the food and company are good. But Friday we went to this restaurant in Pleasant Hill that Paul has been wanting to try for some time. I wasn't possessed by the same desire because the restaurant itself doesn't seem all that amazing on the outside. It's called the 5 and Diner. But, I am so glad we went! It's a 1950s style restaurant, complete with working jukeboxes on every table. The food was really, really good. We both had steak and only spent about $3 more than we normally do on date night.

While we were in there, Senator Grassley and an aide walked in! I was so shocked! But I've lost my appreciation for the man over the last year, so I wasn't inclined to go talk to him. Honestly, I'm hoping a good Republican or Independent decides to challenge him for his seat next fall because I would love to have a reason not to vote for him! But he's better than that old Democrat cow, Roxanne Conlin, who is trying to get his seat. So, if it's between the two of them, I'll vote for Grassley again. I'm really starting to dislike career politicians and that's what Grassley is. He's been a senator as long as I can remember. If you can't get the job done within a couple of terms, step aside and let someone else try!

Paul wanted to go see a movie, which was just down the road. But we had an hour and a half to kill before it started. It was too cold to go for a walk and it was definitely too cold to get busy in the backseat :) so we had to find something to do. We ended up going down to the fairgrounds because they had a camper show going on. We didn't pay to get in, but sometimes they let you in free by the time the last hour of the show arrives. When we got there they didn't even have anyone taking tickets, so that was great! We walked around and went up in all kinds of campers and rvs. Paul was totally salivating! I'm really content with our little pop-up camper, but I'm not the outdoorsman that he is. If he had his way, we'd probably camp at least 35 weekends a year!

We then went and saw "The Book of Eli." I had my doubts about this film, particularly when I discovered it had an "R" rating. Normally we do not watch anything beyond a PG-13. And it was billed as an "action adventure" film, which is really not my thing, either. I like movies with kissing and babies. But Paul had heard this movie discussed on the radio and it intrigued him. And you know - it was good! When it ended, my first thought was, "Well, that was wierd!" but the more we talked about it and the more I've thought about it since, the more I liked it. I wouldn't mind seeing it again. I don't want to be a plot spoiler, but here's the basic premise: The world as we know it ended over 30 years ago. A war was fought, the sun broke through some layers of the atmosphere and pretty much everything was fried. Here and there there are remnants of past civiliaztion - burned out cars, broken down buildings, and so forth. Poverty and crime are everywhere. Through all this, a solitary man walks - Denzel Washington - "Eli." He is carrying the last remaining Bible in the world. After the war, all Bibles were burned. He runs into another man, Carnegie, who is desperate for a Bible. He doesn't want it for his own understanding and groweth, but in order to build his town that he has assumed leadership of. The film is about Carnegie's attempts to wrest the Bible away from Eli. Eli is resistant because he believes that the Lord spoke to him and told him he must take his Bible "West" and give it to those who need it most. It's really fascinating and makes you think! There's a lot of violence, which is how the film gets its R rating, but I didn't think it was that bad. Of course, I shut my eyes during some parts! But there is absolutely no sex in it, other than some rapes - but you don't see those; you just know they are happening. Anyway, I give this a 4 thumbs up! Good plot, good acting.

I think we're going to go see "Dear John" for our anniversary date in a couple of weeks so I'll get my kissing then!

I'm thankful - thankful for good friends who want to cheer me up and thankful for a husband who likes spending time with me. Oh by the way, we went to the 9:30 viewing so we didn't get home until midnight. We were laughing at how tired we were, remembering how when we were dating we would stay out all hours of the night and not think anything of it. And now a 9:30 movie just about does us in! We're old!