Nicole, insent.

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t skipping to the end of the thread to post before going back to skim what's been going on of late

We made it here. Our connecting flight was delayed by bad weather in Atlanta, so we were only there for the last 15 minutes of the viewing, but we made it. It was...rough. I'm starting to think DH has the right idea with wanting cremation.

The funeral was a Baptist funeral. Two of Dad's former pastors spoke. I really liked what Brother H had to say, but I thought Brother S made it too much of a come-to-Jesus message. He talked about Dad being a man of faith, but then talked about faith instead of Dad, which irked me, because it's not like Dad was some stranger he barely knew and was just filling in for the funeral so there would be a pastor there. DH thinks I should write the eulogy I would've wanted him to have, and I think I will. And I wish there had been some sort of congregational participation--hymns, the Lord's Prayer, etc. But it was a Baptist funeral, and Dad was, after all, a good Baptist all his life.

The part that meant the most to me was the procession from the church where the service was held to the one where all our family is buried, 15-20 miles away. I think I've mentioned that Dad was very active in establishing a volunteer fire & rescue service for our area. Everyone who could be spared from the local firehouse was there, in uniform (and served as his pallbearers), along with the sheriff and a lot of other emergency personnel from this part of the county. Each time we crossed one of the larger country roads, fire or police from each locality's service was there to block cross traffic, which I think is standard--but again everyone who could be spared was out there in the road, standing at attention as we went by. That's the part that made me cry.

The graveside service was very brief (hot as it was, it had to be), but my Uncle Joe, yet another Baptist pastor, gave a beautiful prayer. And I'm glad the soil of the graveyard is Alabama red clay. That just seems right, somehow.

Family is...family. We're for the most part sticking together and helping Mom, unless you count Georgia!Brother and ExArmy!Brother getting in a shouting match yesterday over the war--my nephew, Georgia!Brother's son, is in Iraq now, a Guard lieutenant, and G!B's family, nephew included, were opposed to the war, while EA!B has actually turned more conservative than VCOB of late and appears to have swallowed the administration line hook, line, and sinker.

So. We're hanging on.

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And these [link] look interesting.

I so want to get some of those. They look great. And the burn gel things are going on my list, too. I feel bad complaining about Owen the Hoover since I know some babies have trouble nursing and mine just did what came naturally.

I'm starting to think DH has the right idea with wanting cremation.

That's one good thing about funerals--they bring up the topic so that families can have frank discussions about their wants and expectations regarding funeral/burial, etc.

Susan, good luck coping with the rest of your trip. It's always nice to see the other lives your dad has touched outside your own family and how much people appreciated him.

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Susan, peace to you and your family, and coping-ma and whatever else will help you through.

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Glad you guys made it despite the delay. Lots of strength to you, Susan.

I'm starting to feel really lucky - I got lots of accurate instruction about breastfeeding (including some from a male doctor after the baby was born), and other than a few days some weeks into the process where the pain was really bad, neither Mal nor I had any trouble.

The one problem was that, although I was rooming-in with Mal, they would take him for hours at a time to monitor him and do various other tests (due to a problematic birth), and wouldn't always bring him back to nurse (since they said he wasn't hungry). So on Day 3, when he got REALLY hungry, I was unprepared for how often I was going to have to feed him. That was more a communication issue, though.

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Rolling about in released smitten-ma... I've gotten my smit object to embrace "NGA" and "Nsm" as net-expressions. This amuses me but I would've been happier if he had embraced *me* instead of course. I have been tempted to buy bottled pheromones, but that's crapola, right? And besides, still me, under all the chemicals, right? And they're expensive anyway.

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Also, it reminds me of Diego Garcia.

Yeah, I thought of DG when I read it. But then I also was kitty sitting yesterday for my friend who was there for three and a half of the last five years while he and wife went to Vegas for the weekend.

Finally started cleaning for sis's arrival and my vacuum cleaner died. This isn't a good start. Damn.

Lots of people rec'd me the Bissell PowerTrak last week and I am quite happy with it. Not that you asked... But, hey, sharing the love here.

New vacuum has been purchased, assembled and used.

Um, too late. I'm train-of-thought mearaing here.

Boric acid normally helps cut down the infestation.

And kills fleas too! I didn't know it banishes ants though. Learned something new today.

Also, I'm amused that I'm engaged in that most Buffista-ish of activities -- posting while medically unwell. (Like "I'm delivering my baby RIGHT NOW!!!! Hey, does anyone know if BSG is new this week?")

I hope you feel better when you wake up, Steph.

I thought I might have a rib out of place. But the sore spot on my back is ... tingling. Like on a stim machine but I'm not. This is kinda when I would like that health insurance mess to be taken care of because this seems very not good.

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So glad to hear that Toto is doing better, vw. Sorry to hear that you're not, Teppy. I hope the nap and fluids do the job. It seems like they are good cures for most ailments.

All this nursing talk is most enlightening. Not that I'll ever have a need to know it personally, but still, who knew? (Well, besides Cashmere and Plei and Raq and ...)

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Am drinking champagne and contemplating going back downstairs to get a second piece of cake. I made a cake! For the first time in, like, 4 years or so. There was a time, when my sister was wee, when I used to make fabulous birthday cake extravaganzas every year - cakes shaped like dragons, covered with chocolate button scales, with wings made from icecream wafers, cakes shaped like the tablecloth-draped table where a group of marzipan bears were eating a teddy bear's picnic, complete with wee cake in the centre of the table - that kind of thing. But not for years. However, I have Made A Cake. A very simple cake - I get irritable about following recipes, so this is just normal cake recipe with lots of cocoa added, and then the cake sliced in half when nearly cool and filled with cherries in amaretto syrup, and a bit of cream. And I used Betty Crocker icing, which was okay, and decorated it with silver balls and little lilac-coloured flowers and lilac-coloured sugar crystals. It was very pretty.

And I'm making lots and lots of typos, which may be related to the champagne.

Oooh! And we saw a hedgehog! We have a hedgehog living in the back garden. BLESS. Very cute.

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Ack, I didn't wish Fay the happiest of birthdays yet. Happy Birthday!

Back is like a damn spasmatic right now. Am cranky for it. Must search for weakass muscle relaxers. The tingly part is really weird.

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