SHEs Organized

I'm having lunch with a friend who is starting a family history project. I've been down the rabbit hole with some of her info. I consider that to be fun! I'm pulling together info for her.

Tonight we'll be watching the College World Series of Baseball: Tennessee and Florida State play at seven p.m. Our supper will be brats and I'm not sure what else.

Ugh, didn't get this posted earlier before I flew out of here. Lunch and the discussion was fun except that I had a light breakfast (fruit and ricotta cheese) and then restaurant only had pastries - couldn't do a hot sandwich because they power was out. So I had a yummy pastry and water. We talked a long time.

And then, I went down the rabbit hole again. I need to wrap this up and email it all to this friend.

Well hrmuph... tv is not working first the remote would not work on it then I got the other one it did okay but it's a tech challenge to do it differently.
Then I tried the other from the from the basement and it did not work, then the thingies would not turn green. sigh... so next I'll try the one from the basement and see if I can switch them... It is not the router b/c the Internet is okay. It's a pib.
Update I had inadvertently turned it to the off position!
Got my calming music back yea!!!

They make is easing some the water drops on that fire must be helping.
Talked with my dsis.
Got the seeds moved yea!

Pork is shredded and cooling for what ever I decide to do with it for dinner smells so yummy.
So adding vinegar made it taste the way I wanted just a bit of tang!
With homemade rolls & ice cream for Fri. special.
I'll add veg. with tomorrows serving.

Today is a lost cause.

I got to bed after 2 a.m. Apparently dh's MRI took a much longer time because he kept falling asleep and his body wouldn't hold the required position!

The whole time I was waiting I was not tired at all but started yawning as soon as dh came out of the test area.

Woke up at 7 (despite turning off the alarm - darn sun) and got up at 8 but am useless today.

My doctor's appointment went well but I have to pick up 3 prescriptions.

I started this post 2 hours ago but then had a long conversation with my ddil figuring out which 15 days I can babysit so she can do the training on her new, permanent half-time position at the hospital here in the city. There will be 5 days a week where her new schedule won't align with ds's but we'll cross that bridge when we get to that, for now, we are getting her trained.

She never reaches out directly to me but she did this time so I put aside over an hour to talk with her on the phone while we went over the calendars figuring out how we can work this out. I'm happy she reached out because it does sort-of limit when we can go up to the cottage, and she was concerned about that.

From yesterday, Lucylee, I read your post with interest:

lucylee wrote: The hard part of the day --
looked at tombstones....

<snip>
So -- I may spend twice as much -- in the $4000 range as compared to the $2000-$3000 range... but the lady there was sooo nice (not pushy, just conversational, and fully answered all my questions.)
<snip>
Kinda having second thoughts... do I really want to spend that much more when 50 miles away I can probably get the same thing for half the price?
Or... is it true, you get what you pay for, and the quality IS better in Next Town?
OTOH... if our stone lasts 30 years, that's probably going to go past my lifetime, isn't it?
These are the kinds of things that a person needs to discuss with her husband.

First ((((Hugs))))

Second, I know it isn't quite the same thing but you've been with dh long enough that I'm sure you can discuss it with him in your head and get his point of view. I bet there were times in the past where he probably felt you'd had a discussion without him anyway!

Third, seriously, what would he do if the situation was reversed and how would you feel if you knew he was doing that (either 'cheapening out' or 'wasting money.')

I love your description of the expensive, closer, place. They sound like wonderful people handling their clients in a gentle and caring way.

On the other hand, $2K of savings is a lot of money.

On the third hand (because with SHEs there are always 3 hands!) is there something more worthwhile you'd be using the savings on?

Nancy: I'm glad the smoke is easing some. I sympathize with your TV tech issues. I need to nail dh to a chair and work through some of ours.

LucyL. II am proud of you for the time and effort you are doing on the tombstone.
LH ashes are still in the basement not scattered. Kids will do ours together.
Maybe you can do a combo one with both of you on it with that in mind for a later date.
Might be some thing to consider.
My family had a mulit generational one.
You can pick what you would like for you and it will be perfectly fine!
LH ^ I are just going to be scattered! LOL!

It is a day of meeting DS15 new friends. DS15 brought 2 friends home with him to introduce to us. So far, not a single one of DS15 current friends can hang with him working. They will work with him one, two or three days and then quit. His boss encourages DS15 to bring his friends to work and will hire/pay whoever shows up. ANYWAY, today a new friend that DS15 didn't know IRL (meet on snapchat) rode his dirt bike 15 miles through the country road to work with DS15. After they finished working all day in the heat then the new friend came to our home to hang out. Through visiting with this new friend we discovered the two boys share many similarities.
They are both 15 years old
They are both about 6'4" tall.
They both like to work hard.
They both ride dirt bikes....and anything else with wheels.
They both have been raised by and live with grandparents all their lives.
They both say they are not hungry but then will each drink a quart of milk and eat 2 cheeseburgers.
#LivingLifeWithTeenAgers

Smiling at teenage boys.

Thanks for input re: the tombstone, Kathryn, and Nancy. (Nancy, it is a combination stone, will have both our names on it and later DS will just have to add my death date.) So, as the lady at the expensive place pointed out, you are paying $4000 for two people."
Kathryn, you are probably right. I can hear dh saying "Why on earth would you spend $4000 when $2000 would do?" But OTOH, I can also hear him saying, "Well, you get what you pay for..."
I just don't know...
I'm going to talk to dbil this weekend -- he was the one who wanted me to call his friend the engraver... and that was the first time I had questioned the cheaper place at all. Like I said, most people I know, if I have heard them mention it, use the cheaper place. I do know a couple people who have used the expensive place, but one of them I know probably divided the cost among 3 children. I don't want dbil to give me grief over not following his friend's advice. In fact, friend did preface his recommendation by saying, "and if money is not an object, ___ is the best around." But maybe money IS an object. I don't know, other things I could spend $2000 on? Well, these household repairs would be a good starting point.
When your income is suddenly cut 40% and you have no life insurance to fall back on, every dollar suddenly seems more important.
I did talk to the cheaper place today. Wait time is about the same, payment would be half upon ordering and final payment when it is ready to be set. They do cover any damage to stone that may occur from ground settling, etc., just as the others do. Their price estimate for what I'm looking for is $2350, compared to approximately $4000 at the other place.

Anyway...
I have also been to the doctor today, and he gave me a Rx for Bentyl, a pill that is supposed to help slow down the action of the intestines, ease some of this urgency and constant running to the bathroom. He also recommended Benefiber and said I could continue to take Immodium as needed, especially when I would be away from home.
Unfortunately, he said if this does NOT help, I will have to have another colonoscopy, to see if something else is going on. But he seemed very confident that I am suffering from IBS, and if it seems worse lately, that is very understandable, considering the stress I've been under since dh's death.
He also told me he has had this same situation, and "lived" on this medicine himself for years. Finally, he developed diverticulitis (no connection to the medicine, as far as I understand!) and he had to have part of his colon removed. He has felt better since then. But he was very understanding.

I have also talked to DS/family a couple times. They are loving their trip. They'll be back late tomorrow, so I decided I would just enjoy the quiet today and take it easy. I bought DGS some clothes yesterday for his birthday, and I'm not sure about the sizes, but it's only about 2 weeks till his birthday. I'll just let him try them on and then decide if we should go bigger.
Talked to dmom, helped her with some cell phone and internet issues.

EDITING -- It's almost 1:00 am., but I have finally typed the church meeting minutes (from Monday's meeting) and I am working on saving some of the sympathy messages, etc. I received online, Facebook, etc. Twice my Word has stopped "responding," and I am VERY frustrated with this.