SUNDAY January 12th, 2024 through SATURDAY January 18th, 2024

 SUNDAY:  Church was good.  Glenda, Dee, Andrea and I had lunch together at THE OLIVE LEAF.  I had suggested APPLEBEE'S but Dee said she thought it would be crowded and loud due to all of the televisions and the BILLS game.  I had a burger and fries.  I spent the rest of the day at home, napping, resting, watching TV and working on my homework for Tuesdays Life Group.  I uploaded pictures from yesterday's trip to "the tunnels".  Also, I organized a box of gift bags, Christmas cards, tags, bows, etc.  Basically, it just looks less disorganized and I have a better idea of what is in the box.  

MONDAY the 13th:  I met up with Cindi at the Taylor Theatre at the Kenan Center.  A WW2 and POW camp survivor spoke.  He was born in 1924 and enlisted when he was 18 and he was in the Army Air Corps.  His talk was very interesting.  There were empty seats in the theatre but there were a lot of people there, including a class from DeSales, the kids looked to maybe be third or fourth graders. At the end, I was able to get a couple of pictures of him. (WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski)   His real first name is Casimir.   It was very interesting.W(WII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey BukowskiWWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey BukowskiWWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski)

TUESDAY:   After Life Group, we decided to go to Denny's for lunch.  I wish the server would have told us that they were short staffed in the kitchen but she didn't.  I had ordered the senior baked salmon dinner.  We waited and waited.  I finally decided to leave, and I told our server that I was cancelling my salmon dinner.  I wanted to get to the LOCKPORT TRAVEL CLUB on time or maybe a bit early. I thought about stopping at REID's and getting a hot dog, but when I noticed that they had not put up the canopy or shelter around the area where customers order, I decided to skip it.  I arrived  couple of minutes after two p.m.  I saw Sue, who will be my roommate on the March cruise and I spoke to her and she suggested that I sit with her and her male friend.  I think his name is Larry.  He is a bit strange. Lois came in and I motioned to her that I was saving her a seat and she joined me, along with her friend, Gin (or Jin) who she said she met at the library.  There were many new people at the meeting, I think 46 or so, which doubled the group size. Someone took this picture and posted on facebook, you can see my white flowing hair, and I am reminded that it might be good to comb or brush my hair more often.  

The meeting went well, but presently there are not any trips that interest me.  I went home and fixed myself a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup.  Then I laid down on the couch and fell asleep while listening to todays BEN SHAPIRO show.  

WEDNESDAY the 15th:  I showered and washed my hair in the morning and also changed the sheets on my bed.  I was making arrangements with Jan to go to the Y to walk, when Carol Schmelz contacted me to see if I wanted to join her at the Y to do the DRUMS ALIVE class.  I remembered then that we talked about this the last time we went to the Y in December.  I tried to work out a plan with Jan for all three of us, allowing her time to use walking machine while Carol and I were in the class, but she said she was not feeling well and also, that she and Kelly might do something together.  So, Carol and I arranged to meet at the Y at eleven forty five a.m.  She said she would get there early in order to get her membership in place.  I left early to go to TOPS and get ingredients for the rye bread/beef dip that I planned to make for Thursdays senior social at the Y and a few other items.  I picked up PROPEL for Jan and also a snack for her to take to the social.  I got to the Y before Carol, but she arrived a few minutes later.  she was not able to get her membership since the computers were down, so they let her participate as my guest.  We walked the track briefly before going to DRUMS ALIVE where we helped set up.  The class is 45 minutes long and it was a really good workout.  After resting a bit, Carol and I walked the track or maybe fifteen minutes.  We decided to go out to lunch at PANERA.  After that I went to Niagara Produce to get bananas and zucchini.  I spent the rest of the day at home, napping for a while on the couch.  In the evening, I made the dip and watched TV and started reading the book THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED HIS FATHER INTO AUSCHWITZ.  

THURSDAY Jan. 16th: In the morning, I finished getting my dip and bread pieces together to take to the Y for the Senior Social Tailgating Party.  I met up with Deb and Michaelene and we sat together. 

Deb's friend Nan joined us. Shortly after we got seated, a man sitting nearby mentioned growing up on Evans Street, and he gave his last name.  It was not familiar to me but it was familiar to Michaelene.  She immediately asked him if he knew what happened and he said "what happened?"  She got up and went over to speak to him.  It turns out that he is the brother of the man who died in Michaelene's cousins house a few days ago.  When Michaelene told him his brother passed away, he bluntly told her that he did not care and that "they" were drug addicts.  She was shocked.   There was quite a good spread of food.  We played BINGO

and there were prizes.  After the event, I went home.  Peggy came over to get her Entertainment Book, which she left in my car this past Saturday.  She showed me the ideas they have for the room they want to add to their house, so that I can move in with them and have some space of my own.  In the evening I made cupcakes and frosted and decorated them with sprinkles.  I watched new episodes of LAW AND ORDER and SVU.

FRIDAY:  I attended Carrie's Life Plan meeting this morning.  There was some sort of mixup in communications and Carrie's Case Manager, Megan Schumacher, who was the one who set the meeting up was not there.  Greg Stenzel also was not there.  Basically, it was me, the director of the program (Chris), his assistant, and me, and Megan via ZOOM, but she could not turn her camera on because she was with a client.  I left a batch of cupcakes for the participants of Carrie's program there.  Then I took another batch and Carrie's birthday present over to the Hoover Road residence.  They already had a birthday cake for her.  I decided to treat myself to lunch at HOOVER'S on the way home.  I had the seniors fish fry: which came with fries, macaroni salad and coleslaw, bread and butter and ice cream.  This was my first opportunity to try Hoover's homemade ice cream.  Some of my lunch ended up in the trash because there was SO MUCH of it, but I ate every bit of of the chocolate marshmallow ice cream. I took two LACTO pills with it.  I developed a small stomach ache on the way home.  I could not get hold of Jan so I was unable to drop her PROPEL off.  I reached Pam but she was busy doing laundry and could not meet up at the Y to walk.  In the afternoon I did a bit of housework before taking a nap on the couch.  I spent about an hour trying to figure out why I cannot scan photographs to my computer, without success.  

I called Christa in the evening hoping to wish her a Happy Birthday, but she did not answer.  I called Betty to see how she is doing.  She said her doctor gave her a cortisone shot in her shoulder which helped a LOT and the pain in her arm is gone.  She went to physical therapy once, but since there is a $35 copay, she is not going to go any more.  The therapist gave her exercises to do at home, but she is not doing them and does not plan to.  She was fairly cordial, an improvement over my last phone conversations with her.  I told her I hope to see her in church on Sunday. 

Christa called back and we talked fore close to a half an hour.  She worked today, but she went to thrift stores between jobs and found some nice Pyrex.   

SATURDAY the 18th:  I spent the day at home.  I emptied my vacuum cleaner and cleaned out the filter and the rotating bar (which was full of hair), and then tried to run it and it does not work.  Absolutely no suction and the rotating bar does not rotate.  So, I used my tiny dirt buster to vacuum the family room.  I spent some more time attempting to get my printer to connect to my laptop.  No luck.  I went through some more loose recipes that I have collected and got rid of a LOT of them.  I did a load of laundry.  I showered and washed my hair.  I made tuna salad and that a tuna sandwich for lunch.  I looked for a cookie recipe using a brownie mix.  

WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski : WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski : WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski: WWII Vet and POW camp survivor Casey Bukowski