Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Today was spent working around the house and handling mail from the last two weeks and taking care of more estate business.
The highlight of Max’s day was cleaning the gutters.
In case you were wondering: number of feet of gutters on the house needing cleaning – 228; number of feet of gutters on FRED needing cleaning – 0.
Anyone want to buy a house?
Monday, December 17, 2018
Today we woke up to very dense fog. It was starting to burn off by the time we headed to the dentist office at 7:15 but still pretty thick in places. We both had dental appointments at 8:00. We were out of there a little before 9:00 and then we did some banking for the LOLs. That being done we had time to go back by the house before heading to Cullman for our annual physicals and Anne’s mammogram. There is already a lot of flu in our area and we were a little concerned about going and sitting in the doctor’s office and leaving with flu. However, the parking lot was not full and the office really didn’t seem that busy. Nice. We both got good reports. Of course labs and mammogram are pending. We usually have morning appointments for our annuals, but since we changed the appointment in order to complete the Lumberton project, we ended up with afternoon visits and that meant a long, long fast before labs were drawn. So, when everything was complete we treated ourselves to an early dinner at Carlton’s, a great local Italian restaurant. Lots of calories but it was our only meal today and it was so good! Sorry, we just started eating and didn’t take a picture.
On the way back home we went to Oneonta to check on Helen and Jean. Jean who has been quite ill with a fever of 103 Friday, is doing much better. The IV antibiotics seem to be helping. Both Jean and Helen were glad to see us and we were glad to see them. It was a busy day and now we are home to keep trying to move back into the house. We are tired.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
It was another cloudy gloomy day. However, we got to spend the early morning with Debra, Randy and a short visit with Marsha and Carl. When they headed to church we got Fred rolling out of the mud back toward Alabama. The sun came out just as we were leaving Randy and Debra’s, but it didn’t last long and the drive from South Carolina to Pine Mountain was either cloudy or cloudy with light rain. Traffic wasn’t too bad, even through Atlanta. We stopped at two rest areas and then for fuel in Talladega. A good uneventful drive.
We are parking Fred at Aunt Helen’s now since our drive is so long and there is plenty of room in Helen’s drive. Haven’t decided yet exactly how much we are unloading and taking to the house. Guess we will make some of those decisions after we get through the dentist and doctor appointments tomorrow. One day at a time. Hope you all had a great Sunday.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
The forecast was wrong again. It rained all night and was still raining this morning. It did stop by about 9:00 and just an occasional shower after that. We actually saw about an hour of sunshine mid-afternoon and then is clouded over again. We are hoping to find we are not stuck when we plan to leave in the morning.
When we went into Randy’s this morning Debra had already been cooking. She had a beautiful Monkey Bread just coming out of the oven. It was picture perfect and tasted great. 
After breakfast, we remembered Debra had mentioned to Randy that we had a new trim nailer. Randy came in with some chair rail and Max and Randy installed it. Debra had asked for the additional chair rail for her Christmas present. It is now all installed. Merry Christmas, Debra.
After an enjoyable, slow start to the day we got busy preparing for our mid-afternoon dinner. Dave and Jennifer were first to arrive, then Philip, Lauren, Dorothy and Tabitha and then Marsha and her friend Carl. It was so great to get to spend time with the family.
We had a wonderful meal together and if anyone went away hungry it was their own fault. Then we just sort of kept grazing all afternoon. Debra decided the ladies would do something fun today so Jennifer brought all the necessary supplies and expertise and we all made new Christmas wreaths for our doors. We all had fun and were happy with our end results. Jennifer’s Mom owned a flower shop before she retired so Jennifer knows how to create beautiful arrangements and bows. Jennifer didn’t tell us exactly what to do but assisted us in making our wreath the way we wanted. Thanks, Jennifer, for all your help. The rest of the day was spent catching up with each other. We don’t seem to have enough time together. Before long it was time for the kids to be heading home. We appreciate them taking time during this busy time of year to join us today. We knew Christmas would be different this year but in spite of missing Max’s mom terribly, it was a good day.
