Update from Mom March 18

Hi family and friends,

It's been a while since I've written but I have a good excuse--part of my family and a couple of friends came to visit me and I was much too busy to write.

I had a wonderful time while they were all here. They treated me royally!! They bought all the food and did all the cooking and cleaning. I was their guest. The greatest thing that happened to me was the ride on the back of my son's Harley. We went 150 miles round trip to Carefree, Arizona and it was awesome!!! I was thrilled. You've never seen the beauty of the Arizona mountains until you've ridden on a motorcycle. It is a memory I will never forget.

The week was so great and I enjoyed every minute of it. It went by much too fast but now I have the memories. It will be a little over a month before I will see them again and I miss them but I was so glad to have them here. Thanks to all of them.

While they were here, they ganged up on me and told me that I would not be driving my car down alone. Sue roamed the park on my golf cart and spotted a used car for sale. The guys looked it over and decided the guy was asking too much for it so I cooled it for a few days. A week later I had my friend, Richard look at it--he even crawled under it to see that it did not even have an oil leak. He told me that if I didn't buy it that he would. He went with me to talk to the owner and with his talent and from what I had learned from living with Marland all these years(he knew how to talk anyone down in price) we offered him less money than he was asking and we made the deal. So now I am the owner of a 1991 Buick Park Avenue--it has all the bells and whistles you can think of and I guess I will have to go to school to learn how all of them work!!! By the way, it is white so will be easy to keep clean. I must now go to the flea market to buy a California duster cause I know that Marland will be looking down at me and expecting me to keep it dusted!! My other duster is in my car in Minnesota.

Bonnie vacuumed the floors before they left and my old vacuum has seen better days. It is so heavy and I got tired just pushing it. So--Sue called me from Minnesota when she got home and suggested that I look in the Target circular that Sunday so I went to Target and bought a new vacuum cleaner. It is a Dirt Devil $49.00 special---it is all plastic but it will do everything I need to do with it. Bonnie, you will be glad to hear it.

Milt & Gloria Berg from Northfield are down vacationing in Fountain Hills for a month and they came over and took me to lunch one day. We had a nice visit. Phyllis & Bud entertained Jones, Maiers, Martins and myself for cocktails and later in the evening Bud made hamburgers with all the trimmings. Today, Marland's cousin, Lorn & Kitty Schneeberger came over(they are vacationing in Mesa for a few weeks) and went to church with Phyllis and I. Phyllis & Bud had the 3 of us for corned beef and cabbage at noon and then served strawberry shortcake for dessert! Tonight I have to walk an extra 30 minutes!! It was so great to have a long visit with Lorn & Kitty. They are great people.

So goes my days-- I keep busy but I am still lonely. I will be down here until April 24 when I fly home so you will still have to put up with my stories for a few more weeks.

I called Don & Camilla Docken on Saturday and had a nice visit with them. I also called the Eversons, Jackie Detlie, Bethanie(for her 24th birthday) and Owen Paul Mieska for his 3rd birthday.

Love to all of you until next time, LaVerne