We arrived in Milwaukee on a brisk Thursday early evening in my jeans and warmly lined jean jacket, well, warmly lined for LA. The temperature was around 55 and dropping. We went back to my husband’s brother Dave’s house, dumped our bags, got some warmer clothes on, and went out to a warm dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. My little silk nighty didn’t work at all for me. What was I thinking? Dave likes to keep his house at a comfortable 62 degrees. Comfortable for who, Eskimos? The very next day I rushed to Goodwill, and for $4 I found some cuddly sweats to keep me warm at night.

Friday night we went to Jeff’s sister Annie’s house for a get together and dinner. I came prepared with a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, and a snow jacket. Oh yes, and my Uggs. Finally a place to wear my Uggs where they actually did some good instead of just looking good in LA. This was the first time in over forty years that all the siblings had been together. Jeff is from a family of eight kids so this was really a big deal. We’ve been together for fifteen years so I know all of them accept for Mike. He left Milwaukee years ago to settle in Connecticut and never really came back. I had heard he was a religious man plus he is the oldest of all the eight sibs, so I was expecting some kind of straight, fuddy duddy. Someone I would have to watch my mouth with. Because one never knows what will come out of this mouth… Something which worked very well with the other Doucettes. Because you never know what’s coming out of their mouths either. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong about Mike. He was so warm and wonderful and just as much fun as the rest of Jeff’s brothers and sisters.

The weekend was a blurr of parties and getting together in one way or another. I was having a good time but the reason we all got together was looming over us all. My brother in law Jim had been
diagnosed with stage 4 lunge cancer. Just a couple of weeks ago he had a tumor removed from his neck that was so big it almost broke his neck. He had a surgory where they rebuilt his neck, followed by radiation treatments. And luckily is on a break from all of that while we are here. He is hopeful and in good spirits. We hung out at his house on Sunday to watch the Packers win over San Diego and had a grate time cheering the home team on. Dave lives only a few blocks from Jim so we got home and had a late dinner. My eating habbits have been off since I’ve been here and I’m just greatefull I have been able to go to the gym and workout. Dressing in layers has helped a lot because inbetween freezing the sun sometimes I feel warmed up.

Monday found us taking a tour of 88-9 Radio Milwaukee with my nephew Marcus who is a top DJ here in Milwaukee. Then it was off to see Jim and Donna. I gave Donna my book and DVD, and she was thrilled and couldn’t wait to get on it. Then it was back to Dave’s for a great dinner with him and his girlfriend Sherrie. Dave barbecued, and we had some great conversation. Packed up after dinner and caught the zzzz’s early. We got to the airport in plenty of time and were happy to run into Martin, Kortney, and their dog from my “Who Farted Blog”. We did some catching up on the plane and I got some writing done for my upcoming cookbook. I can’t wait to get home.

We arrived in LA to temperatures in the 80’s. Ahhhh how I love living here.