Sorting, cleaning, and normalcy begins again..

Well...... an incredibly beautiful morning......cool (63 degrees)....and blue sky. It was a perfect morning to have breakfast on the patio......and the 1st Lady and I did just that!!! I lingered over a second cup of French Roast.....and then somehow, completely unplanned, we began to sort out some of the STUFF that we had moved from room to room during Stage I of the remodeling process.

I threw away an old TV that was hiding from me in the closet......it struggled against my tight grip as I carried it-not-so-gently to the trash bin outside and let it drop into the bottom of the bin......and quickly closed the lid so it would not attempt to bounce back up into my arms. Did I feel guilty??? Did I feel remorse?? NOPE.......I was excited that I had made the move and did the deed of getting rid of the aging, unused, never use tellie!!!! What's next?

Well, over the course of a couple of hours, I made many trips to the trash bin.....and soon it was filled and beginning to overflow. WOW......we made soooo much progress in throwing away some accumulated STUFF.........STUFF that we do not need, nor will we ever need. We removed some old cans of paint that were stored in the laundry room.......and what did we do then??? We put in some NEWER cans of paint.......some that were left from the painting of the remodeled rooms. Hmmmm...I wonder how long THAT paint will be stored there???????

After a LATE lunch, I sat down to have a cup of coffee......and soon I was answering the phone and spent about a half hour talking to the recent groom, Andrew. He had finished the first week of the summer band camp for the Edwardsville HS band......and we discussed the progress and the staff that are assisting him and the head director.

Not long after that I received a phone call from another very good friend, Vimille Bentinganan. We talked for awhile about the death of his father this past Thursday.....and the arrangements for the visitation and Mass at the Catholic Church.

After grilling some brats and finising an early meal this evening, I went over to the Bentinganan home and spent over an hour talking with the family and friends that are gathering there. It was great to see some of the ones that I had had in band back in the 90's. And, obviously this led to some laughs as various stories and events were remembered. We also discussed the trip that many of us had made to the Philippines for Vimille's wedding in 2000. It was also such a joy to see his new daughter of nine months, Alexis. What a cutie she is!!

This evening was just a laid back evening in front of the plasma.......enjoying a couple of movies on the movie channels. Tomorrow.....we plan to go visit Mike for a few hours.

And, as always......

Life is Great........and I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!