NBC-10-Philadelphia-kimwolterman

Missouri Botanical Garden

Yesterday we took Katie to the airport for her flight back home, and then began the process of taking all of the ornaments and lights off the Christmas tree. Trash pickup is today, and I wanted to get the tree out of the house. We didn't bother to wrap all the ornaments, so that is my job for today. Once it is no longer 48 degrees on the main floor of the house.

I mentioned to Jim last night that it seemed cold in the house, but I thought it was because we had been opening the front door to take out the tree and bring in the exterior decorations. But when I looked at the thermostat, it was only 61 degrees. Huh... Jim checked everything he knew how to do with no luck in getting the furnace running again. Not for the first time, I am extremely grateful that we have zoned heating and cooling in the house. At least the upstairs is still nice and warm, so we slept okay last night. Other than getting my hot tea this morning, I am avoiding the downstairs.

So now I wait for the furnace repair guy to show up, and I am thinking this is going to be an expensive start to 2013. Fiscal cliff, here we come.

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you feel like you are in another dimension? First of all, I picked up my husband's cold last week, and it seemed to crest over the weekend. Both of us took afternoon naps on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday afternoon we attended a visitation for a friend who died on Thursday. We came to know Bill through his sister, Judy. We hired Judy when Katie was six weeks old and I returned to work from maternity leave. She took care of Katie and Andy until Katie entered first grade.At that point I quit my 15 year job as vice president in an insurance company and went to work for our composting company.

Judy, however, very much remained a part of our lives. She continued to come and stay with the kids when Jim and I traveled, and later took care of our final baby, Kirby the cockapoo. She had moved in with her brother after their mom died 13 years ago, and they were best friends as well as siblings. And they were very much surrogate grandparents to our children as neither my folks or Jim's lived in St. Louis.

Bill was a sweet, gentle man who always had a twinkle in his eye. He loved his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had a special place in his heart for my Katie. I think he may have more video footage of her than we do. She is just sick that she couldn't be here for the funeral, but she has mid-terms this week and will be heading home on Thursday for spring break. One of the first things she'll do when she gets home is go and see Judy.

I'm very worried about what will happen to Judy. They have her medicated since she was having panic attacks when told that Bill's cancer was terminal. She cannot afford the house they lived in, and I'm not even sure that her name is on the deed along with Bill's. While she does have a husband, they have been estranged for 15 years and they never had any children. She only gets $400 a month from social security. Who can live on that? Hopefully one of her sisters or nieces/nephews will offer to take her in. Losing her brother/best friend and losing her house - that sucks!