Tuesday I was totally dressed, lunch made, then I let Abby out to find the most beautiful snow fall ever. The ground was totally covered with more to come. The roads weren't bad, so we did have school.
After I got to school, I had trouble with my eyes. I thought I had my contacts in backwards. When I got home, I took my contacts out immediately, only to realize that I had pink eye. After getting some medicine I counted this as a blessing. Others around me have had either the flu or the stomach bug, which made them extremely sick; and I just had an inconvenience.
Wednesday, I did not go to school because I knew I was contagious. I made the best out of this situation by going out to eat, getting concert tickets, and sewing on some sweatshirts. This was also a sad day in history for two reasons. First, this was the 16 year anniversary of Carl passing away. Second was the announcement that Hilltop Haven will be shutting it doors in 2 months.
The closing of Hilltop Haven is devastating to our community on many levels. At the current time, there are 100 patients that will have to be relocated and 125 employees that will be out of work. This is the biggest employer in our community. On a personal level, it has always been apart of our lives. When I was 5, I had a uncle that was in there that we visited. Then when I was in 4th grade, my mom went to work there. We would go visit. Then in the early 1980's, my grandmother was a patient in there until she passed away. As a FHA sponsor, we went to the care home for various activities through the years. Then my mother started out in the Howard Apartments and eventually ended up in the care home. Just like her mother this is where she finished out her life. Many families are being effected by the closing of this historical part of Gunter.
On a different note, the weather was beautiful this weekend. Rick had warned me that this was going to be a working weekend. So Saturday was the day that we emptied the storage building that has housed our "junk" and Christmas for over thirty years. The building has to be demolished before we can get electricity to the new building. Many treasures were either trashed, "Good Will"ed, or moved to the new building. I could write about several treasures, but I will share one that really excited me only because it is a God-thing.
This year as I decorated for Christmas, my village and Santa Claus collection found a new arrangement. As I was anticipating this arrangement one night, I got to thinking about this plastic Santa Claus that we had growing up. I had not thought of this Santa in years, but I was wondering when Mom had gotten rid of it. She was not a hoarder. In the building I had three of her last boxes of stuff that came from her apartment. As I went through the boxes, in the bottom of second one was this plastic Santa Claus that we decorated with for many years. It still has the rocks in it that kept if from turning over when placed on the bookshelf. I already know where it will be displayed next year as I decorate for Christmas.
We did get the building unloaded, and Rick even made a 4 X 8 foot closet/box in the new building to hold all the yard ornaments. The box was made out of the shelves in the old building so history was preserved. Even though they did not get displayed this year, they are well-taken care of until I can get them out next year.
After this week, I can handle an ordinary week.
