T Stands for A Glass of Wine or Two

Hi everyone. 

I hope the new week has started well, and if you celebrated Easter or Passover this past weekend, you have a nice holiday celebration.

  It is already  time for another T Day post over at  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog .

Before I get too far into this post, I want to share this pretty Easter card I received in the mail from our lovely T Day hostess.

Thank you dear Elizabeth and Bleubeard too. The rocking  bunny is a cute stamp. I also love your hand dyed background. The colors are amazing. 

 It is always fun to get happy mail! And I might (in the future) have to recycle some of that paper too. Smile. 

The last week has been a busy one for me. I did some yard work, took several walks, met up with a couple of friends, and also, along with my husband, had MIL duty last weekend. 

My MIL is 88 years old and has been in a long slow downward spiral for a few years now. Contrary to my husband's opinion, I don't think she is on her last legs of life, but she is at the point where she needs  some regular  care. Family dynamics are interesting though, and how much care she needs is not something my husband and his 2 sisters totally agree upon. Or I should be totally honest and say that level of care is something my husband and one of his sister's mostly agree upon, as his other sister only does the minimum she must do because she is really just concerned with what she can get out of something. 

Then you throw in us in-law children. My MIL has 2 son-in-laws and me, as my husband is her only son. One son-in-law is a really big hearted and generous man. The other one doesn't want to deal with my MIL at all. You can probably guess who is married to which daughter in the brief description I mentioned in the last paragraph.  As for me, the only daughter-in-law, I love my MIL, have known her more than half my life, but she is very different from my mother . Let's just say that some of the attitudes about life I learned from my mother are not my MIL's view of the world. I'm not saying either attitude is right or wrong or even better or worse, just different. 

 I don't want to get too heavy in this post, so let me just say that my husband's family dynamics can be exhausting. Thanks goodness my mother "trained" my brother and I along the same line of thought so we can be straight up with each other (and therefore have worked together really well) when it's come to care issues.  I must also say I hoped I've "trained" my daughter in the way I want to be cared for when I am at a point I need that kind of care also.

Anyhow, my husband opened up my MIL's house so she could stay there for a few days while we've had MIL care. (She's been living over in Maine with one of my SIL's in the winter for the last several years, and my husband always closes up her house when she's gone.) My MIL's house is about a half an hour away, so we've been going back and forth between her house and ours, checking in, making and having dinner with her, doing some chores and trying to do a few things she'd like. My MIL is a very social woman, and she loves a pre-dinner glass of white wine (or 2) as dinner gets made.  I certainly wasn't going to make her drink alone. Ha-ha.

I raise a glass and say cheers to my MIL.

Maddie has also loved this weekend  as she's the first one, as usual, to go into  the lake swimming for the year, even if 2 weeks ago there was still ice on the lake.

And since my husband has spent quite a bit of time at the house this past weekend, he managed to uncover his boat. He stores it there covered up in the winter because since no one is at the house during that season, it isn't in anyone's way. He's always happy when he gets to uncover his boat.

I must say our care weekend was successful. Even though my MIL still thinks I can't cook (and tries to tell me how to make something, which I just say OK and then ignore), she told me  many times how delicious the salmon was, the ribs were and  Easter dinner was, etc.. One night we bought pizza, which was not something she thinks of as dinner, but it was from a restaurant she likes so no complaints. She ate well and slept in her own bed and got to spend some time at her house.  And of course got to enjoy her glass of wine also.

Thanks for making it through this post. I hope you have a nice T day and week ahead.