THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 97 JANUARY 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I almost blew my own fuse over the lights on my pre-lit Christmas tree this year. Josh helped me haul it up from the basement storage room and assemble it. I connected the many power cords and said “let there be light.” My mood turned dark. There was very little light – one or two strands on a nine foot tree is essentially a power outage. I jiggled the branches and managed to get another strand or two to work. Josh assured me that once the tree was decorated a few hundred light bulbs would not be missed. Knowing that anything less than a tree bedecked with blazing lights was going to be a Christmas downer for me I did some research and discovered that after a few years of use most pre-lit Christmas trees failed. I could either either try to remove all the very firmly wrapped and clipped onto each branch lights or I could buy some thing which looks like a glue gun that apparently shocks your lights back to life. I opted for the later and bought one up the street at my local Ace Hardware store. I read the instructions, pulled out a bulb, inserted the nozzle and pulled the trigger and hit a bulls- eye. The entire strand was lit up! I was on fire to tackle the rest of my tree. Unfortunately it proved to be shooting duds from then on. I pulled the trigger until I was to the point of shooting myself. Josh tried and managed to get a few more lights on but I ended up adding some strands to it. I was on the verge of running to Hobby Lobby for a new tree! Once it came time to take the tree down I contemplated removing all the lights to save me the task next year but after spending an hour just cutting a strand off the top tree section I decided to wait until next year. Maybe the cost of several new strands of lights will equal purchasing a brand new pre- lit tree!

Ava Claire helping Grandma decorate the tree.

Christmas was quiet again this year but Josh and I enjoyed Christmas dinner with Coryn, Jeremy and of course Ava Claire in their dinning room. Amazingly I only had to make a dessert picked out by Coryn - a four layered red velvet cake with cheesecake sandwiched between the layers covered in cream cheese frosting. Fortunately my cheesecake did not crack in the oven or fall to pieces when I had to slice it horizontally. I was sure that Jeremy would be cooking our dinner but amazingly Coryn made the whole meal – even the roast beef!

On December 29^th I made a quick overnight trip to Fort Madison, staying with Sherry and Rocky Aschbrenner. Becky, David and the children had returned to spend the holiday with his family - actually Becky was with her family in Hannibal and a friend in Fort Madison. Her house there is still for sale but completely bare as her things are all in storage. I knew that the holidays would be very hard for Becky so I wanted to be able to give her a big hug and whatever support I could. Despite sub zero temperatures the weather was fine driving to and from. I avoid driving in snowy or icy conditions if at all possible in my Ford Focus.

Evelyn was already at Sherry's when I arrived early Monday afternoon and Becky soon joined us. They witnessed a very important phone call I had with Coryn that day. She and Jeremy had been at her doctor's office that morning for an ultra sound and this time they decided to find out the sex of the baby ahead of the birth. Of course Coryn made me suffer claiming that they still didn't know as the baby had it's legs crossed the whole time. I immediately shrieked that the doctor should have shoved his hand up and uncrossed them! I was so disappointed but then she told me that they would be having a BOY this time. I was beside myself with joy : my friends probably wished they had ear plugs and I bet Sherry was worried about her floor joists as I jumped for joy.

Lysander and Merovy joined us for awhile and the baby seemed to be at least twice as big as she was the last time I set eyes on her. She looks very much like Lysander who was as cute as ever. But like most young children he requires a lot of attention and I am in awe of Becky's ability to cope with his demands and Merovy's.

Unfortunately once Becky, David and the children returned to Savanna they had to deal with another devastating tragedy compounding the one they had so recently suffered. Gretchen's friend Katie had been a tremendous help to the family – even taking on the care of their ailing dog. She and Gretchen even worked together and their boys played together so it was an unbelievable coincidence when her her husband arrived at their home to let them know that Katie -a young mother in her thirties, like Gretchen,- had died of a heart attack at home. Heartbreaking for all of them.

In early December Coryn and Jeremy flew to Arizona for a four day stay which included attending the Chiefs game. Ava Claire was staying with me, while Josh stayed at their home to take care of the four dogs. Ava Claire quickly put herself on Grandma's sleep schedule when she realized that I was up for midnight feasts in bed – she was happy to sleep until at least eight in the morning rather than her usual six O'clock time. She is at a truly delightful stage showing a very assertive but so cute personality. I think she will be very empathetic with her new baby brother judging by how she treats her doll. She will throw it to the floor, make a few boo- hoo noises, declare the baby sad, pick it up, hug it and pat it's back and declare that the baby is happy. She will probably be a great help with her brother when he reaches the point of eating solids as she loves to feed her dolls. I was watching her trying to feed Buzz Light Year through his helmet one day and realized that she was ready for a doll which was not in Grandma's toy box so the next day I went to Toysurus to buy her a baby doll with a bag of accessories to care for it.

Josh is still staying with me. He accepted the temporary position he was offered last month and will start next commuting up I35( so conveniently close to my house) next week. He claims that he will move closer to his new job if he is constantly battling rush hour traffic. It's a twenty minute drive in general but rush hour can be easily twice as long.

Ming Jon is headed to China next month to teach English at a University there for a year. I just hope he can stomach the food – Kay said it was awful when she was there. I am sure he will have an interesting experience.

Coryn, Jeremy and Ava Claire are flying to Indianapolis over Valentines Day Weekend next month – I am sure that Claudia will thoroughly enjoy her young cousin!

Crafting with Kay's class.

I will be helping Kay with her first grade class on the Friday before Valentines Day. I am trying to come up with a craft that does not require glue - after my very sticky experience making Christmas snowmen with cotton wool and glitter paper . Some of the children were bathing their craft in Elmer’s glue. We were also challenged by a visit from Santa Claus that caused the class to erupt in excitement – especially when he handed out presents to them! Snowman lost hats, scarfs, mouths and eyes. I was down on all fours trying to peel them off the floor. Once Santa left we managed to get them back to crafting but it definitely was a day when more help would have been great. Unfortunately only one parent volunteered to help with the Christmas party so I was glad to be there with Kay.

I finally have all my kitchen cabinets painted and the hardware restored to it's finish of almost forty years ago. I tried everything from tomato juice and vinegar to Brasso and a toothbrush but Josh actually came up with the best solution after browsing the web. He said boiling them in vinegar was highly recommended. I was not anxious to try this as I detest the smell – when I clean out the coffee pot with vinegar I plug it in outside to avoid the unpleasant fumes. However after spending hours on a few sets I gave him the go ahead and it worked like magic! The hours I could have saved myself.

On Saturday my new state of the art stainless steel GE dishwasher was delivered at seven in the morning – I was told to expect it between eight and noon so of course I was dragged from my bed in the middle of the night. Josh installed it for me the very same day! Now my dishes will no longer need to be rewashed when I take them out of the dishwasher!

My kitchen redo is now complete but I have a lot of other projects to tackle. I am currently redoing my Florida themed bedroom as Coryn and Jeremy took my twin beds in exchange for their queen bed, thinking of their childrens' future needs. I immediately headed to Steinmart for new bedding in a gray, white, red, and yellow color scheme. I am planning on painting all the furniture white with the exception of a wicker chair which I sprayed red this afternoon outside as it is sixty degrees here and sunny. The room will have to be renamed – maybe Ethan's room since he has spent the most time in it! He will be delighted to hear that I am going to install a new ceiling fan in there too!

Jeremy asked if I was planning on hosting a Super Bowl Party again this year: since the demand is there I will fill it at 5pm, Sunday February 1^st when as usual I will kick off with a formidable line of up of my tried and true party recipes . Once the game starts my guests will have to fend for themselves as I will be busy coaching Tom Brady. Let's hope the balls are fully inflated this time.

Love to all my family friends and readers who mean so much to me.