Cremains

We were at the funeral home this morning to pick up Nana's cremains, which seems so surreal.  Mom was genuinely moved at the dignity and presentation of all of it.  One thought we had heard earlier was about the bag itself that an urn is put into.  Some places give you a grocery bag or something that looks fairly close to a plastic Walmart bag.  We were talking with others about this, and while it is not that important ultimately, it just seems to make the entire presentation seem a bit more trivial, as if you're going out to McDonald's to go pick up some fast-food.  Ironically, this funeral home is owned by a McDonald, and in fact, the bag itself for the urn to be carried in was fantastic.  It also held a certificate that can be used should there be any air travel in the future.  Also, it had a keepsake urn, one for Mom to hold on to, while the larger urn itself will be placed with her husband down in Florida at the National Cemetery.  As for the urn itself, Mom was quite pleased with it.  There is a hummingbird and a flower on the front, and the entire wooden box is very nice.  Mom was moved, and quite pleased with the entire experience, and that is super important.

So today was a day for finishing up some writing, and also costume hunting too.  We were over at the Goodwill in Oakwood, and we got a few things that should work for space pirates.  You'll see pictures soon enough.  We also found some great old vinyl records there.  Someone donated a lot of really great old records, and the covers alone on so many of these are just amazing.  I love the old look of these.  I also found another early Disneyland "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House," which I was happy to snap up.  I got a Platters record and a few other records too, including a few Christmas ones.  That was a great stop, actually.

Maddie did super well on her forensics test, and that was a great moment for her.  She works hard and studies a lot, and it's great to see the end results there.  We'll have to go get some Boba Tea to celebrate!  Tonight though, she had taekwondo again, and it was a full night.  Mom and I were shopping at the thrift store, and Maddie was kicking people, having a good time as always.  She had a lot to share about her evening on the way home.

Today was National Potato Day, and we celebrated with some fries that Mom made herself.  She boiled the potatoes, and then sliced them into chip shapes, finally frying them in the pan with some flavoring in there.  They were delicious!

We closed out the day with a few episodes from season two of "Monk," and then got on to our reading afterwards.  It was a late night by this point - we said our prayers, and quickly got some sleep!