Overall, it has been a pretty good week. I haven’t been as weepy and am getting things done. I still have my moments where it is hard to believe that Darrel is really gone. And there are times when I think, Oh, I need to tell Darrel about this or that. I suppose that will never really go away. Keeping busy definitely helps, though.

Courtney was off until Friday when he had to go back to work on his ‘old’ schedule. Today started his ‘new’ schedule of Saturday and Sundays off and working 5-eight hour shifts, 2:00 PM – 11:30 PM. I can’t remember the last time he worked 8 hour shifts or a late one like this.

Monday we cleaned out all of Darrel’s clothes from drawers and closets. Then cleaned out a couple of closets of my clothes, shoes, and assorted other things. Courtney took a truck load to the Goodwill on both Monday and Tuesday. It felt good to get rid of it all.

Next I am going to get rid of the bedroom furniture that Darrel had when we met and that I have hated from the beginning. Big, heavy, dark stuff that took up too much room in our fairly small bedroom.

I spent time this week sorting out the bank business, rearranging closets and drawers, paying property taxes (yikes!) and writing thank you notes for flowers and all the help and support I have had. Again, I appreciate everyone who helped and who came to the ‘Soup Night’ last Thursday. It was a great event and really helped Courtney and I to see everyone!

On Wednesday, Courtney and I went out to my parent’s house. We visited for a while then Courtney went to a friend’s house for a birthday dinner. I went with the folks for mom and dad’s 64th wedding anniversary celebration at Black Angus with two other couples. We had a nice dinner and fun evening.

Thursday night I went to the Seattle Repertory Theater to see The Vaudevillians with Trish Keenan. It was hilarious! What a fun show! We laughed throughout the evening and the show went by very quickly!

Halloween was one of Darrel’s favorite ‘holidays.’ He loved seeing the kids all dressed up. I am sure it was because he was still such a kid himself, and he was remembering his days of trick or treating. He always gave out handfuls of candy to the kids. A couple years ago he went to giving out the BIG bars.

I had mentioned to my friend, Karen Hazzard, that it might be tough for me since it was Darrel’s thing to hand out the candy. She offered to come over and keep me company. She hadn’t handed out candy and seen the kid’s costumes for years since they never get any kids down their long, dark driveway. I fixed Friday Night Tacos and we had a good time looking at the costumes and visiting.

We used to get a lot of kids and I figured the word had gotten out about the big candy bars. However, there were probably only 4 or 5 big groups of mostly smaller kids, and a few small groups of 2 or 3. I don’t think we eve had 50 though. There is a lot of candy left! Need to get rid of it so we don’t eat it all!

Today was kind of a lazy day. My mom came over to visit and brought Courtney the tarp that she sewed together for him on her serger and a huge cabbage for me. Plus, she picked up dad’s coat that he forgot last Sunday.

I got a little quilting done. It was the first time I have sewed since the week before Darrel died. It was nice to kind of get back to the new ‘normal.’

I just fixed salmon and roasted vegetables for dinner for Courtney, his friend, Paul, and myself. It has been a while since we had a fairly normal dinner. The salmon sure tasted good!

Next week is another busy week. I have to pick up Darrel’s remains and death certificates on Monday. Then I have a doctor appointment on Tuesday. Wednesday is the lawyer appointment and then I am getting a free facial from my aesthetician! Such a nice person. And who knows what else will need to be done. But, as I said it is good to be busy!