A couple of expanations

I thought I should explain why I was so excited about doing some mowing over Labor Day weekend.
I have normally done all the mowing at our house for quite a long time . . . except for last year after my hysterectomy in May - and this year!  So not only does John mow the main lawn at church twice a month, he mows the south lot about once a week (every other if he's lucky) AND he gets to mow the lawn at home.  He is quite a guy - never complains about any of the things on his "to do" list.  That's why I love the guy so much!

The other thing I needed to explain was what all of my family was doing at my house on a Thursday at noon.  Well the explanation was that they had attended my mother's funeral that morning.  Now - before you ask why they weren't at the funeral lunch - it's kind of a long story, but let me see if I can give you the shortened version.  When my dad died, neither Denise or I were involved in any of the planning and let me tell you that we were treated very badly at the funeral.  I had made my mind up a long time ago that when my mom died, I was not going to the funeral - it wouldn't matter one way or the other because I would be "wrong" no matter what choice I made.  Denise and her family {sans spouses} attended.  Neither John nor I or Carrie attended, but Marlene and Jeff did.  Now, let me also explain that had my bff Marlene not been here visiting when this all happened - we would not have known that my mom died until the Tribune came out and we saw the obit!  Someone had called Marlene's mom in Illinois to let her know what was going on, and then Marlene's daughter let her know!  Neither Denise or I or any of our families were listed in the obit (so that more than half of the actual "family" was not listed).  Now please don't get me wrong - I have grieved for the loss of my mother - I just grieved a long time ago!