Yet another reason to love Grandma Alice.

In our last episode, I let you all know that Grandma Alice had passed. (It's a Southern saying.. deal with it) Well, I got back from Eastern Oregon this weekend and had quite a story to tell. There were actually many stories, as I got to see many of my cousins, Aunts, Uncles and of course my dad, but there was one story that would have tickled my Grandma, so I'm going to share it.

The funeral was led by the current Catholic Priest there, he is from Sri Lanka. According to my father, the priests are brought in from other places now, hard to find enough home bred Priests I suppose. There has been an Irish Priest in the last couple of years, the last Father was from Nigeria, but now, the Father is from Sri Lanka.

Any who, Grandma Alice, being who she was, decided that she wanted her nieces and nephew to sing at her funeral and asked them to do so before she died, Amazing Grace, I walk in the Garden, etc. She also asked them to sing a yodeling song. yep. Yodel.

Now, apparently my dad's cousins warned her before she died that the one song that they know together involves a young woman who loves her man a great deal, except that every time they make love, he yells like Tarzan, and then proceeds to yodel.

I'm going to give you a minute, just to let that sink in.

Grandma said, "Perfect!"

The Father, (having no idea that this was about to take place) called for the last song to be sung, and gently, sat down.

The song commenced.. with a warning to the audience I must add.

There was a great deal of inappropriate, bawdy laughter throughout the song, and huge (and very well deserved) applause after it.

But what had me giggling then, and my dad and I laughing out loud the next day, was the absolute, abject horror on the face of the priest as he slowly stood up and looked out on the audience of at least 150 people, who were still laughing, and applauding.

"Let us then, pray for our Sister, Alice......"

I bet she was in stitches...

How it effects us.

So all of you know that I went to see my grandma last month, because she was doing poorly, and that she really rallied and seemed to be doing really well, and she was. However her blood gases started going off again, her CO2 was too high, and she fell out of a chair and broke some bones and well, it was pretty much over then. Alice Coleman, my grandmother died on Thursday about 7:45 pm MST. The whole family knew in no time, apparently my cousins Twitter... who knew?

I went to work on Friday, and I think a lot of my co workers were shocked. I had to tell my boss (nice lady.. very classy) that I needed to arrange some time off to go to the funeral and they overheard. The thing is that it hadn't hit me yet, I just couldn't deal with it.

So this weekend, I've been a cleaning machine, and on Sunday, John took the boys and left the house to my manic ministrations, and I just lost it. Huge wrenching sobs that I could not control. It was like this amazing dam that I had felt, but was unable to let loose. I have been weeping ever since, anytime there is any quiet, and it is disturbing to me. I know that I feel so much better than I would, because I went to see her, and Grandma and I had some really great conversations while I was there. You know, those 3:00am conversations, when you talk about anything? But Grandma Alice was the definite matriarch of this family. There is a gap.

Now, on the other side of that coin, Grandma Alice was really ready to move on. She was done with this life, and confident of the next. She had been having dreams of loved ones coming to speak to her, to tell her that soon, she would be with them. She had one dream of my grandfather coming to her and saying that he was building her a cabin, and as soon as the roof was on, he would come to get her.

This really comforted her, she was excited to be with Grandpa Tony, and really excited to be with her best friend, and sister, my Aunt Goody. (Viola, really, but she hated that name and only went by Goody) They were inseparable in life, and the separation in death that left Grandma here without her was arguably the most painful part of my Grandma's life.

I'm glad that the roof is finished, that Grandma is happy, and best of all, pain free.

But, I have an empty hole right in the middle of me, I know that time will dull the pain, but not erase the hole.

I wonder at the strength of human beings, that we continue to walk, and breathe, and most of all love so fiercely while we, at the same time, become a collection of holes.

Little projects, and a early birthday present

After Christmas knitting and the sweater, I needed some fast and frankly, instant gratification projects. (I really should have taken photos of the Christmas knitting, including my favorite gift that I gave this year, which was a fancy, smancy, lacy scarf for my bestest friend.. Maybe she'll model for us. )

So, I realized that my felted slippers were finally, after more than three years, showing signs of wear (getting holes my friends), hence, new slippers for momma!



These are thick, wonderfully warm and easy! You knit a really, really big sock, then stick it in the washer until it fits your foot... Then, instead of rolling the top as the pattern calls for, I attach a hook (or in this case a baby overall bib connector thingy) and fold it over to fully cover the top of my feet.





I'm making another pair for work.. (It really gets cold in those call centers folks, we all have blankets at our desks and for us desperately cold people, slippers under them.)
Anyway, you can see how much bigger the slippers are to start with, I haven't even gotten to the heel yet. This is a GREAT way to start socks, you get a feel for the process, but you get instant gratification, and the fulling process hides your mistakes. And who can resist warm, cozy slippers?

Now, also, my wonderful husband is an auction kind of guy, and he ran across my birthday present, (It's February, so it's not too early really) and it has a beautiful sound.. check it out!

It is older, it was serviced in 1965, in San Francisco according to a sticker inside. It also has a Stradivarius sticker inside, which was common in the 1800's, so we don't know how old, exactly, it is. I will be getting it restrung, but really the sound is amazing, and I am looking forward to starting all of the wonder of violin!

Proud Cloud

You know when you walk into your house and see this...

That you will walk around a corner and see this...

Which means that you will also very soon see something like this...

Him is such a proud kittens him is...

The bird count in the house is now up to 12. We have saved 4 of these. I was a little too late for today's birdie.

And just in case you were wondering..

The Game is still afoot.

Weekend Cat blogging

Fedd loves crafts.. especially ones that create boxes.. Like this box made for me by my sister-in-law to collect mail.. or cats.



This is for weekend cat blogging being held at the amazingly wonderful blog www.sidewalkshoes.blogspot.com check it out!

Happy New Year!

2010 Who'da thunk it... What a very long year the Kafooster family has had. 2009 started with a surgery in February, and ended with an emergency in December and there was all kinds of wonderful, and yuck in between. There didn't seem to be a lot of just nice and easy anywhere in the year.

Although there has been many, many difficult changes this year, there are so many things that I am so very grateful for.

Sam has really grown and matured, he is gaining a subtlety of mind that I am increasingly impressed with. He is learning to take breaks away from that which annoys (or really upsets) him without prompting. He collects himself and rejoins the group with a sense of humor instead of a rage. Those of you who know Asperger's will be impressed, those of you who do not, just understand, that if I can teach anything to my children to insure their success in this world, this is one of the most important. And he is not quite 13. I am immensely proud.

Ben is also really maturing, just a few post ago he was at that "I know! I know!" stage, but he seems to have left that behind, and is more open to listening. He has also finally understood that just because he speaks differently than everyone else (he has a slight disfluency, or stutter) this does not make him stupid. He is finally understanding what we have known all along, that he is a brilliant, and most of all wonderfully kind and caring young man. Again, I am so amazingly proud.

The biggest change, one of the hardest, and I would say the biggest blessing, was that this was the year that John started to learn sobriety. The world of alcoholism is such a closed one. There are so few people that we tell, there are so few people that we share that big grief with, and it becomes such a huge, consuming piece of our lives. While John has gotten sober, I have had to work so hard, still have to work hard at trying to not question where he is, has he been drinking that day? The little quick assessment that is done as he walks in the door has started to fall away, and it is not the first thing I think of.

John has worked so hard, and still works hard everyday. I have learned that there is no perfection in sobriety, there is no absolute, I have great faith however. Great faith in John's absolute burning desire to stay sober, to maintain this lifestyle for the rest of his life, one day at a time, and amazing, great faith in the Good Lord God to watch over him, and lift him up and help him day to day. And to watch over us all.

2010 brings opportunity, to continue on our way. I hope to continue to reach out and help those who need me. I hope to help put together a class for all denominations of faith in our area on how to include autistic students in all kinds of services, and to make the families more comfortable about being in church, or temple, or whatever.. I hope to help as many individuals as will need me, to understand their autistic child and how to help them grow and be comfortable in this world that will not change for them, but can accept them. I know that this is my calling. I also really hope to get more organized in home, and in body.. this is NOT my calling, but my own personal devil, so I will try to conquer it with a lot of lists...

So 2010! May you be blessed, may you see us continue to grow, hopefully not as painfully as 2009, but in faith, in strength and together as before and as always.

And so should 2010 be for all of you as well!