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April 03, 2006 - Monday, 8:00 a.m.

Saturday was my birthday party with Mariah. The food was wonderful and the evening enjoyable. Mariah had about 5 little girlfriends there and it was a slumber party for them. We played trivial pursuit until nearly midnight.

I got a beautiful aquamarine necklace and earrings from my sisters. I really, REALLY like it. I have always loved aquamarine and this set has especially beautiful stones in it. I also got a 12 place setting of dishes from my parents and Kim. They are a solid white pattern that came with a platter, serving bowl, salt & pepper shakers and napkin rings in each 6 places setting set. I really like them as well. I spent yesterday going though the dishes and pots and pans and took a large load of what I consider to be junk to the ARC (like a Goodwill or Salvation Army store). I still have quite a bit to do to get my house in order like I'd like it to be. But it is definitely getting there. My kids got me a STOVE!! For my kitchen!! I get to pick it out and it'll be a gas range! (My dad agreed to plumb the gas for it!) All I can say is WOW! I have wanted a gas range for a while and have DEFINITELY needed a new stove. I was very surprised. It was a wonderful gift.

Saturday morning our class met at the professors house. We had breakfast, 'played' and had a very short class. The professor has all kinds of things to do in his yard from basketball to climbing trees. He even has a zip-line which was under repair during our visit. It was a nice morning, and about 1/2 of the class was there.

We "sprung forwards" over the weekend which means it is EASIER to stay up late and HARDER to get up in the morning. :o) Now my clocks in my car and bedroom are ALMOST correct. During daylight savings time my clocks are 'around' an hour off. The reason it is that was in my car is that I've never figured out how to set the clock in that car. And it is 5 minutes slow normally. My clock in my bedroom? It's a quirk that I have. I am one of the strange people that doesn't have a single clock in the house that reads the correct time (OR the same time). It's like going through time warps as you wander around the house. My bedroom clock is actually about 15 minutes fast, so you can imagine that during daylight savings time it is almost impossible for anyone else to read. Though it ends up about 45 minutes off from realy time, when you look at it you can easily be mentally off by about two hours. I often hurry and run around getting ready to get out of the house, to realize that I have 1/2 hour of spare time. As I am perpetually late, I seem to enjoy this exercise and am often actually ON-TIME due to the difficulty in reading the clock. I am sure this is terribly strange, but I like it.

My cousins husband is doing very poorly. It is unlikely that he will live another week. The brain tumor is again growing and there is no ability to stop it this time. Allowing brain cancer to run its own course is painful and a little disconcerting to think about. When a tumor grows in the brain (inside the skull) there are very few avenues for the growth to expand to. I am sure you can figure out what that would mean. There is some hope that he might pass away before it completes its own course. In the last day or so he has gotten a fever, which means there is an infection somewhere. Kathy decided (with the help of a number of discussions with family and friends) to NOT treat the infection. Perhaps he will pass quietly this week.

It makes me terribly sad to think about. Steve is only in his early 50's and Kathy is only 3 years older then me. It is VERY apparent that they love each other immensly. Steve and Kathy have been married for about two years. But they have been good friends for over fifteen years. They worked together and went through many difficulties in their lives together. His death is going to impact every aspect of her life, from work to home to free time. The echos of his presence will be every where. My heart breaks for her. She is doing very well all things considered. It makes me so sad. I'll make time in the next week or so to go to the funeral whenever it is. Another trip to North Dakota.

The morning is passing I need to get to work.

Have a good day.
M.