Hum......

Hum......I wonder where my shoes are.........

Weather.......

What IS IT about me....weather.....and moving days! This is exactly the same bad weather I had the day I moved in here: high winds, pounding rain, flooding..........ick. Honestly Mother Nature!!! SUCH DRAMA! KNOCK IT OFF!!! Not to jinks myself and Mike, but at least it's warm and no chance of ice until rush hour tonight, when the temperature is supposed to plummet! It's going to be a LOVELY day!

More furniture out.

Well, when the piano went out on consignment, I must admit it was an emotional moment for me. I even followed they guys out to the truck, and took a picture of that piano being loaded. I did shed a tear for that. Not only that I had spent thousands of hours playing that, but because it was my Mother's "baby".

Just now, the Salvation Army truck came and took the dining room set, and some other furniture. I don't feel badly at all about that. It will go to good homes, I'm sure, and someone will get many more years of enjoyment out of it. That's as it should be.

For all of you who are sending me "good karma", I want you to know it worked today! It was raining BEFORE the guys got here......stopped while they loaded the furniture, and then guess what? It started to rain again, right after the truck drove up the street! Good job people! Thank you!

O.K., we're getting there. I'm not sure WHERE....THERE is....but we're getting there! Now I have to call the consignment shop that has the piano and make a deal.

Almost moving day

Well, if all goes as scheduled, I'll be moving tomorrow. I can't imagine that all of this stuff will fit in Mike's trailer and my car. We'll see. Wish us luck!

O.K. back to my projects. THIS IS NOT FUN!

Loosin' it

For the record......I'm "loosin' it". I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of packing I have to do in the next two days! How did so much stuff accumulate, and hide behind cabinet doors. I would have been doing fairly well, if I didn't run out of boxes!!! Oivay!

Well, sometime today, Chris, Ann and her husband are coming over with their truck to pick up the curio cabinet I'm giving to Chris. I guess what's stressing me out right now, is I can't get in touch with them, and I don't know what time they are coming.......I really need to leave here and go to Walmart and buy a dozen plastic storage boxes.....but I don't dare, until I know what time they are coming over. I'm pretty sure they told me what time they'd be here, a week ago, but I've forgotten! Yes, I forgot!

Hey, for all of you living in warmer climates, I might as well admit it right now! It snowed last night and is still sending down a light flurry. It's really pretty, but I'm not in the mood for it today! It's only about an inch....hasn't even covered the grass, so if your weathermen get hysterical and say, "New England buried in snow!!!" don't believe them!!!

O.K. back to work! Oivay!

The day before Thanksgiving, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Hopefully those of you who are traveling today will stay safe, and have uneventful trips and arrive at your destinations not too frazzled.

Today is my day to cook the turkey and prepare a plan for transporting an entire Thanksgiving dinner to the nursing home. That should be quite the task, but I can do it. It'll just required a little ingenuity.

I'm sad and still in a panic that the house will be sold soon. I am so hoping the deal will somehow, magically, "fall through". I had not planned on it happening so soon. I kept hearing how sales are so slow, bla, bla, bla. I have NO PLAN as to where I'm going to live, etc, but guess I'd better figure it out quickly!

It's an awful feeling, and I so wished it could have happened in January, and not right before the holidays. As if the holidays are not stressful enough!!!

O.K. I'm off to the supermarket to buy the one thing I forgot......onions for the stuffing!

Soon to be HOMELESS

Do not panic! Do not panic! Well, don't everyone panic at once! As you all know, the house has been on the market for a couple of weeks. Homes in this neighborhood usually sell rather quickly, regardless as to what things are doing in the "outside world". Here, there are always older people who need to downsize, and there are not a lot of houses that fit their criteria. Anyway.....that's a tangent.

Saturday, a potential buyer came through the house for a second time. Sometime on Sunday, while I was having a wonderful time visiting my friends in Connecticut, that person made an offer on the house. It was quite a bit lower than the asking price, but that's the game. Doug went back with a counter offer, or is about to today. I"m frozen in panic. You know, the "deer in the headlight" thing!

I've known this time was coming, but I honestly thought it would not be for months! I guess today I start to seriously try to figure my way out of THIS CORNER I'm in! What a mess!

Yeah!!!! Obama wins!

What a great day for America! I really like Obama, and I'm extremely happy that he won. He'll not have an easy job of it, but he's got the country behind him. It'll take a long time to try and fix the mess Bush left us with!

This afternoon I finished piecing my friend Donna's quilt together. Donna was diagnosed with cancer about two months ago. She asked me if I would make a comfort quilt for her, so that's what I'm doing. It's not in my favorite colors (rust, orange, brown and black) but that's what she asked for.....so that's what I'm doing. I used to send the pieced quilt to the quilt shop in CT to be finished, but they have closed their doors since the last time I made a quilt (Maureen's). I'm going to attempt to quilt this one on my own, small, not-fancy, Singer machine. Wish me luck! I hope to get it to Donna in a couple of weeks.

Another ER trip

Hi Everyone. Grampa had to make another trip to the ER last night, but he's O.K. It seems he was cleaning inside his ears with a qtip, and drew blood. Since he's on blood thinners, the girls wanted to play it safe, so they sent him, in an Ambulance, to the local hospital. I was so wiped out from working the sales for nine hours (you know, standing on the cement floors?) that I barely made the drive home, let alone going back down to Providence to sit with Grampa for who knows how many hours! I worried about him, but since I knew it was not a life-threatening situation, I just fell asleep. This morning I called Hebert's, and Bonnie told me he was back at 10p.m. and in fact, he had perforated his ear drum. Feel free to call him today, and check up on him.

Back to work today.

Update on CT visit

My trip to CT was such fun! Thursday I drove to Liz and Mike's house to meet the new puppy, Sage. Oh my! She's such a wonderful dog! Absolutely adorable!!! Well behaved, quiet, calm and lovable!!! Thank God! I was so worried. But it's all good at that Sweeney household!!!

Then, I drove to Susan and George's house, that beautiful bungalo near the beach! It's always great to visit with them. Susan and I have over 20 years of friendship behind us, and hopefully another 20. That should be interesting. That would put me in my 80's and Susan in her 70's. I'll bet we won't be any different than we are now......except SHE probably won't be able to quilt because of the arthritis in her hands, and I won't be able to run marathons anymore. hehehehehe

Friday morning, Smooze and I drove over to Mary's mother's house and made the flower arrangements for the party. We had an absolute blast....joking around and teasing each other just like we used to when we were all florists in Fairfield, and 20 years younger!!! I told Mary "I remember you when you were in your 20's and young!!!" and she said, "Yeah, and I remember you when you were "middle aged"!!!" OUCH! hehehehehe. Brat! Anyway, we had a lot of fun, and the project went very quickly. The arrangements looked great! (I have pictures somewhere on this computer.....I just can't find them! 750 of them, mind you! How can anyone loose 750 pictures!!!!!)

Friday night was the party. What a great job Donna and Stephen did planning it! Mary got there early and set up the table decorations. Susan had bought some "body parts" candy in individual wrappers, but the catering staff said it wasn't allowed in the room that we had rented, because they end up on the floor......ets......bla, bla, bla. Anyway, the flowers looked great, and Susan had cut up some of her nice, orange Halloween fabric and put squares of that under the arrangements, which were in black containers, on black tablecloths.

Donna and Stephen met us at the door, dressed as the couple in the movie Beetlejuice. OMG, they looked insanely awesome! Stephen had the stripes on his suit, and the white and black face paint.......Donna looked down right creepy! I kept staring at her, because I was amazed at the perfection of her makeup. I can't wait for you all to see the pictures.....it was nuts!!!!

Pretty much everyone came in costume, and there were some good ones!!! (The day after the party, when I talked to Donna, she told me there were so many people in the medical profession there it was funny. Also, EMT's, Firemen, Police.....who knew!!!) Great, and here I am at the mortgage burning ceremony, under the trees......whispering......QUICK! HERE COME THE FUZZ!!! Oh Lord. There were probably cops and firemen standing right around me! Duh.............heheheheheh.

So, the band was and Irish band. They were just amazing!!! They played a few Irish songs, and the rest of the night they just rocked bad-assed......as Mary said. hehehehe....they were awesome, and I danced like a drunken wench!!!! See? And all these years Mary and I blamed our silly shennagins on the booze, when in fact it was JUST US! Mary has been sober for years also, and she's still just as crazy as ever!!!

The food was perfect. Apparently that's the same catering company that Donna and Stephen used for their wedding, which was in that same room, 15 years ago, on the exact same date! Shows you how the Universe works, huh?

We got back home, to Susan and George's house at 1a.m. You all know, I don't stay up late, so Saturday morning I slept until 10a.m.!!!!! In the afternoon, Susan took me out to a place called Yoshida. I ordered the box with fried scallops, Shumai, and Kappa Maki........OMG.....it was fantastic! I loved every bite! At first, it didn't look like a ton of food, but I actually could not finish all of it, so I brought some back to the house for George, who had to work part of the day. I'm sure it wasn't as good leftover, but wow.....I do plan on going back there when I move to CT. It might just become one of my favorite restaurants!!! It's on the post road in Milford, so not far from Suzzie's??

Let's see. I have awesome pictures from the party, and also pictures of some of Susan's quilts. She's really a master quilter, even if she won't admit it!!! I thought she had been quilting her whole life, but she's only been quilting for about four years.......so there's hope that I can become almost as good, if I focus on that goal. Upstairs, in her guest room, she has a quilt rack, to hang the extra quilts on. She must have ten spectacular quilts on there......at least. Then there are a couple on the bed, some on their bed, the big "wedding ring quilt" hanging in the dining room.......two or three hanging in the living room......some on the couch, on the chairs......it's like quilt heaven! Ah....delightful.....and oh so restful.....

Saturday, I headed to West Redding, to visit with the Francoletti clan! It was great to see them all. The kids have grown so much, I kind of have to look at them with a tilted head, thinking...."but....but.....where did all the little people go????" They boys are seven already, and Abigail is five!!! Yikes. (She' s five going on 30, by the way!!! She's so friggin' cute!!!)

Saturday afternoon, we all got dressed up and went to a Halloween Trick or Treet Street at their school. The inside of the building was dark, and different classes and teachers had set up scenes........that the kids got candy at. I tried to take pictures, but of course, the minute a flash goes off......it screws up the mood lighting, so the pictures didn't come out that great. But, I'll have them printed, and send them to the kids. I think they'll enjoy seeing them.

We watched The Three Amigos on Saturday night, with mixed reviews. Abigail watched the whole thing, but frequently said, "Mommy, this isn't funny." Joe quit really early and went downstairs to watch sports with Daddy. Nick really got into it, but when people started getting shot, he would leave the room......he didn't like that at all. He seemed very sensitive to the plight of the good guys, and he was worried about them!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we went to a farm close to their house. It's beautiful! (However, the kids are still puzzled at why the house, barn and other buildings are painted yellow! It's a beautiful pale yellow, too, but I guess in their minds the barn should be red! Think about it.....in books...the barn is always red!!! What's up with that?????Well, actually, I do know the answer to that question, but I'll let you all figure it out. ) Anyway, the first thing I did when we got out of the car, was head right over to a couple of teen aged cows standing near the fence! They were beautiful, and it was great to be able to just pat her, and scratch her neck, which I must say, she really enjoyed!!!

The kids had fun throwing rocks in the brook, which meandered around the edge of the cut grass. Apparently some movie star owned the farm, which is on 22 acres of land. She left it to the town in her will, with the stipulation that it be set up as a non-profit educational resource for the town! And so it is! They have all sorts of events......concerts in the summer......festivals....classes......etc. Wow! I would be a member, that's for sure! Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, as I wasn't expecting it to be THAT beautiful! Shame on me!!! I will next time, though, that's for sure! I suspect it's even stunning in winter, covered with snow!

I left the Francoletti's around 9a.m. yesterday morning, and meandered home. The trip that should take about two hours and 20 minutes, took me seven......so you can see how much exploring I did!!! Hehehe......

Now, I'm here, and it seems really, really quiet! Yikes! Too quiet!!!

Playlists

O.K. I give up! I can't figure out how to make a playlist on iTunes....or on my iPod. Ggggrrrrr.

Sewing

Well, it's 18 days until Halloween, if I could today. I'm sewing as fast as I can to make Halloween pillowcases to give to my kids and my friends. Please don't ask "why"? It's all MINA'S FAULT! You see, I started thinking about making one for her. Then, I thought, "Well, if I make one for Mina, it would be kinda fun to make one for Kate and Mark, also. Then, my next logical thought was........"in that case, I should make one for Maureen......Mike.....Liz..." Then, I thought I would make two for my friends, Donna and Stephen who are having the big Halloween party. Of course, if I make one for Mina, I really would like to make some for Nick, Joe and Abigail.......and so, you see? I'm up to a minimum of eleven! I have seven finished, so I'm getting there! They're really cute! You'll see......

Woops.

Woops.....she paid $1,870.00 Well, I'm still happy with the deal, as the piano is 41 years old.....which, now that I think of it....isn't THAT old for a piano.

Piano Man

The piano man, Paul, came to the house today to look at Nana's "baby". He rebuilds Steinways, and also takes them on consignment. We came to agreement on the price, and he will be picking up the piano tomorrow. The deal is, he will get between $1,200 to $1,500 for me within 90 days....he pays for the transport of the piano. He said it's in great shape, and needs only to be tuned, and polished up a little. If this works it will be nice, because Nana paid only $1,300 for it in 1967. I know they are much more valuable these days, but I'd be happy with that price. I must admit, it will be strange to see it go. I guess I should play it a little tonight, as this will be my last chance. He did say, if for any reason I change my mind, I can at any time, but then I have to pay to have the piano transported back here to the house. I somehow don't think THAT'S going to happen!

To the Beach!!!!

What a beautiful day it was in New England yesterday! .......warm.....sunny and filled with color! Around 9a.m. I left the house and headed to Dave's market (sorry Mike, it's the closest!) to buy treats for Nana and Grampa. (Trail mix, Tangerines, cookies and the paper). When I got to Hebert's, I found them already outside, sitting on the porch, in the sun, enjoying the weather and fresh air! We had a nice visit, and I entertained them with stories of my adventures!

Once I left there, I headed right down to Wickford. It was fun to visit all my favorite places. The Wickford Flowershop looked nice, and smelled like roses and lilies! Yum...... I didn't get to see Julie this time, as she had the day off, but the girls did show me recent pictures of Little Miss Clover! What a beauty she is! Huge blue eyes, and big dimples when she smiles! All are doing well.

From Wickford, I headed down to Moonstone beach to pick up rocks. The Piping Plovers have left for the season, so the entire beach was open. Ah, rocks! I love rocks! I must have been a Geologist in another life time! When I finished picking up the rocks that caught my eye.......I sat on the beach for a while, and just enjoyed the sound of the waves and the view. The air turned a little cool around my ears, so I had to leave before I got a case of my hives. (I do travel with Benadryl all the time now, but only use it when I absolutely have to.)

On the way home, I stopped at The Ice Cream Factory, in North Kingstown! Oh boy was that good!!!

Today, I was wishing I could drive down to CT and surprise my friend Donna at the Elephant's Trunk flea market, but it's a little too far to drive for a joke. (About 2.5 hours!) Besides, the thought dawned on me, I might not be able to find her there, and then I'd be screwed!) I suspect I will find something to do outside today, though, as the weather is just spectacular!

We here, on the East Coast, are in our "Ya-better-enjoy-it-while-ya-can" mode! Well, SOME OF US, are in the "Holy-crap-winter-is-coming" mode!!!! (Hi Joe!) Silly.

So far behind.......

I am so far behind in my blogs, I'll never catch up.......so I'll just start with today. For those of you who are sitting out there in the world, worrying about me........DON'T. You have no idea what my life is like.

FOR EXAMPLE.......I just spent the last half hour STUCK IN MY HALLOWEEN COSTUME. No, seriously stuck! Like "can't-get-it-off" stuck! When I stitched the long, sparkling cloth strips to my old black skirt, I screwed up the elastic on the waste band, so it doesn't stretch anymore. I managed to get INTO it, with a whole lot of wiggling, and pushing and pulling! But, getting it off just didn't happen. Of course, once I started laughing, it was even harder. Then I realized it wasn't funny, and I started to sweat. I considered going over to my neighbors house to have her help me pull it off.....but there were a few Comcast guys standing in the street, and that just made me laugh even harder.

The good news is, I finally got it off. Believe me, I won't put it back on until the 24th.....for the party in CT! Honestly, my life is just....too much!!!

O.K. everybody back to your projects! Carry on, troops!!!

The Eagle has landed

Hi Everyone. Well, after sitting and waiting for six hours, Nana finally got discharged out of the hospital. The ambulance drivers came with a stretcher to pick her up. Nana was sitting in the chair. When one of the guys asked me if she could walk, I told him "she's very weak and shaky". So, then he said to her, "Would you like to dance with me?" She gave him a huge smile, and said she was kinda weak. So, he told her he would hold her up. Well, he got her into a standing position, and then started humming. She looked up at him, and smiled with delight. The sort of rocked back and forth a little, and inched their way over the two feet to the stretcher. When he finally sat her down on it, she said, "Oh! That was NICE!" (Hey.....it's MY turn!!! I WANNA DANCE!!!)
Anyway, Nana got over that fast enough, once they started putting the seat belts on her. She knitted her eyebrows together, as she does when she's worried..... I was constantly reassuring her I would be right behind her. She was glad to see me in the elevator, next to her.......and glad to see me get out of the elevator with her.......glad to see me standing in back of the Ambulance......and really glad to see me standing in back of the Ambulance out in front of Hebert's. See? I told you I'd be right her. hehehehe
So, they wheeled Nana down the hallway. When we made the turn at the nurses' desk, I saw Grampa jump up from the chair he had been sitting in at the end of the hallway......w.aiting and watching! He gave me a huge wave and a giant smile! He almost ran to the stretcher! "Wait, Dad!!! Wait! Wait" hehehehehehe........Oh Lord......HUGS AND KISSES! The ambulance drivers had to stop the stretcher, and they both smiled. One of the guys said, "Wow, that's what I would want!"
Nana was thrilled to see Grampa. She was also thrilled to get into her nice, soft, comfortable blue recliner chair. I swear, she was trying to keep her eyes open two minutes after she sat down.
I hope they had a good night. I'll call a little later and check up on them. I'm going to try to stay here at the house today, as I used up a lot of gas (expensive gas) driving back and forth to the hospital every day. I need to get back to the process of packing up the house. It also appears that the grass doesn't know what's going on, and it has decided to continue to grow! Aw damn....

Saturday in the Hospital

Hi Everyone. So, I'm glad I stopped at DD to pick up two muffins, because it seems Nana slept right through breakfast, which was awful, since she has not eaten solid food in days, and I'm sure she was hungry! Her room mate told me the person from the kitchen brought her tray.....put it on her table......and then 90 minutes later picked it up and brought it back to the kitchen. No one helped her, or even woke her up. She devoured the muffin, and a glass of water!

She was sitting in the chair, sleeping, when I got there at 10a.m. The first thing she said to me was, "Boy, am I glad to see YOU! I'm freezing!", and she was. I took care of that quickly enough. I got a heavy blanket from one of the nurses running past the door, and wrapped Nana in a cocoon! Right away she said, "Oh, that feels WONDERFUL!!!"

I cut and filed her fingernails, just to give us something to do. When lunch came, I helped her with everything thing that she wanted. She was starving and ate almost everything on her tray. After lunch, we put her back in bed and she slept like a baby for four hours, until it was time for her supper tray. She wasn't very hungry, and fell asleep holding her cup of pudding. Now, you KNOW she's sleepy, as my mother never misses dessert!!!

I left around 5p.m. and Doug must have been coming in the front door, while I was going out the back door, as he called me a few minutes later on my cell, and he was in there already.

Dr Cardouse came in to see her again today, and was pleased with her progress (big deal, her flu ran it's course! I swear, I think that's all it was! And they gave her every test in the world to rule out everything but.....) He said he would discharge her tomorrow. I told Grampa if he doesn't I'm kidnapping her from that hospital.

Fatima hospital is a small, old hospital with a huge nursing shortage problem. I can't tell you how many errors I saw, just in our room of two patients, in just one day! Isabella didn't get her Insulin this morning.......Nana missed a pill because she dropped it on the floor and the nurse never noticed......Isabella's IV came disconnected and it was dripping onto the floor for hours....Nana missed a meal.....etc...etc....etc......It was awful! Next time Nana needs to go to a hospital, you can be sure it won't be Fatima!!!!

And the sad thing is, it's not always the nurses' fault. I met a lot of wonderful, caring nurses who were just swamped with tasks that they could not finish because they had too many patients! It's sad.

Tough day at the hospital today

Where did that sweet little old Nana go to today? Hum.....When I got there this morning at 10:15 she was furious! It took me about fifteen minutes to get her calmed down, and then I went out to talk to the nurses at the desk.

Apparently Nana ripped out her IV twice in the early morning. Then, when the nurses had left her room, she got up and walking out into the hallway and sat in one of the weight chairs. (I think she though she would catch the bus, as she's been talking about doing that for two days now!) She also got out of bed during the night, and walked over to her room mate's bed and was patting the covers asking where Arthur was. All in all, she was quite agitated!

I managed to humor her into calming down and for most of the day she was O.K. After "lunch", which consisted of clear liquids again, she started getting annoyed at me that I would not take her home. Finally, she told me I'd better go call Arthur and explain to him why were late! "He should be home from work by now", she said.

Finally, she fell asleep and had a nice nap. Doug came in early today, and I was so emotionally tired, I was very happy to hand over my shift to him!

Everyone pray that she's safe tonight, and doesn't do any walking around! If she fell, that would be awful! She'd be staying in the hospital a lot longer than she thinks!

I'm wiped out, and I'll be glad when we can get her back to Hebert's. All she cares about right now, is getting back to Arthur........so if we make that happen, she'll feel so much better!

There's a very definite possibility that she will get discharged tomorrow. We're supposed to get Hanna tomorrow, but the Ambulance drive is only about a 15 minute trip, so it shouldn't make too much difference.

Update on Nana's hospital stay

Well, looks like Nana is out of the woods for the time being. She was much more alert yesterday, than she was the day before. I sat with her from 10a.m. to 6p.m., and she only fell asleep for a couple of brief moments, but it was a light sleep.....waking up at almost every page on the intercom, and every bell, buzzer and beeper sound. Her smile was back and she was quite talkative. We passed the hours by coming up with fantastic "schemes" to "save the world", or to at least "fix it". However, in the end, we decided that we would have to have a secretary taking notes, to be really effective, and we both agreed that we had "staffing issues", and "payroll shortages"! hehehehe. So, we gave up on THAT plan, and moved to our next favorite thing to do.....making up stories!

She still has the IV in, which she hardly notices. They are still giving her antibiotics, which, unfortunately are pouring right through her. She doesn't remember Hebert's. But I do think it's helping that I'm sitting next to her. At least there's one constant there. She asks me where she is about every five minutes. I'd hate to think what would go on in her mind if I wasn't there to tell her. Well, I can't think about that!

Hopefully, she had a good night, and I'll be back at the hospital mid morning to sit with her again today.

Emptying a house is a lonely job

It's a very lonely thing to empty out a house of 67 years of living. I did really well the first few days, as some things were just easy to dispose of. However, as the days go by, it's getting harder and harder........so many beautiful things to think about. I haven't even made it to the pictures yet! I'm not looking forward to that. Actually, I'm thinking I might not even go through them, until after I move. I'll just move them all in their boxes.

The good news is, it's much easier to close up a house when the parents are still living. It's got to be so much harder if you are mourning someone, and then trying to make all of these decisions!

I can't wait to go to CT to start condo looking! I'm excited about my new life!

Joe's incredibly generous offer!

I'm overwhelmed with Joe's generous offer to buy a condo for me in CT. I'm speechless and very, very thankful! Thanks Joe!!!

I'll be going down to CT next Thursday to start looking with Mike and Liz, since I don't know my way around that part of the state, and WE ALL KNOW, how easily I get lost!!!

THANKS JOE! YOU'RE A LIFE SAVER!!! I promise to be a good tenant!!!

Successful move

Well, Grampa had a smooth move into Hebert's on Sunday. Thanks Mike, for coming up and spending 11 hours moving stuff.....plus driving over four hours to do it! (Got your trailer unloaded yet? hehehehehe! Maybe it would be easier if you just turned it into a shed now!)

Grampa seemed relieved to be on his way. The stress and worry left his face, and he looked pretty relaxed, although he did admit to us that he was a little bit nervous. We told him that was normal, which it is.

While Mike, Doug and I got the furniture settled, Nana and Grampa were off starting their third honeymoon someplace! Grampa told me yesterday that they spent five hours holding hands on Sunday afternoon. That's so odd for me to think about, because Nana and Grampa were never hand holders. That just started when Nana went into Epoch 20 months ago. The only time I ever remember seeing them hold hands was, going up stairs together, or on icy sidewalks. Oh well.....

So now my head is starting to spin with all the work I have ahead of me. Believe it or not, we actually now have the house half empty. Not that Grampa took THAT much stuff......but I've been throwing away all the old, un-useable stuff. The trash man is not going to like me tomorrow! Maybe I should put out a six pack of ice tea for him? Very, very cold ice tea!

My goal this week is to dispose of as much as I can, and straighten up the house. I've already had a few neighbors in to look at the dining room set, the couches, etc. Last night, our friends Sheila and Russ stopped over to ask about Grampa, and I think their daughter and son-in-law might buy the dining room set, the piano and the corner curio cabinet! We'll see. They are moving back up here from North Carolina and are leaving behind some old furniture and plan to buy some when they get here. Sounds like a possible deal to me!

Well, I'll keep you all up to date on things. Meanwhile.....Happy Belated 2nd Anniversary to Liz and MIke!

Big day tomorrow, for everyone here.

Well, tomorrow will be a big day in our lives. Tomorrow Grampa moves into a nursing home, to be with Nana. It's what he wants to do, and although he's a little scared, he says it's the right thing for him. Mike is coming up with his trailer, to help move the furniture. He, and Doug will do it, and I hope that they both will come out of the deal intact, with no hurt backs! Fortunately, there's not a lot of furniture going, but we all know.....sometimes it's just moving the wrong way that can hurt. Having Mike here will also allow me to get three or four pieces of furniture out of my storage, and cancel that for good!
It will be the beginning of a new phase in my life. I'm excited to get on with my own life now! Of course, as usual, I don't have a good plan yet.....but I have some ideas. The hardest part will be seeing Nana and Grampa only once in a while, after being with them daily for a couple of years. I'll definitely have to keep the word "abandoning" out of my mind. My plan had been to be with them until their died, but that's not going to happen. I feel like a runner who did well in the race, but quit just before the finish line! I'll be about a two hour drive away, and Doug will be an hour's drive if there's an emergency. Well, I should say, WHEN.....not IF.
The hard core, serious packing will not start here until Monday, out of respect for Grampa. He's having a hard enough time now, I don't want to make it any harder for him. Let's put it this way, he had tears in his eyes when he said good bye to the mailman! Of course, granted.....the guy has always been super nice to Dad and they've spent a lot of time joking about baseball....but still.......who cries saying good bye to a mailman?
So wish us luck. It'll be a difficult couple of days up here.

Grampa's moving

Hi Everyone.....well, here's what's new in the planning stage. Grampa, Doug and I went over to Hebert's again, to look at the room. Doug had not seen it. It's a great room, and we're all in agreement about that. At this point, unless something changes.....we are all set to move him into Hebert's in ten days, or on the weekend of August 24th.

Here's the rest of the plan......so far. I'll be able to collect unemployment, while I'm job hunting for another job, as I've worked enough quarters to do that. Grampa is going to pay all of the house bills for as long as I want to live in the house. I can live in the house until he runs out of money, and at that point may have to sell the house. The estimated time of that happening, would be in eight months. Meanwhile, I will be selling some things, throwing out the old useless stuff (like the three dozen worn out sheets for twin beds.....probably 30 years old!) and giving some things away. We pretty much have Grampa's list of what furniture/clothing/possessions he wants to bring with him. He told Nana this afternoon, and she was thrilled! She did want to double-check to make sure that's what he WANTED to do......so, even in her non-memory state, she's still trying to do the best thing for him.

So, I'm relieved that I don't have to like move out and find a job in the next two weeks!!! Phew. The news is all pretty much good today. Grampa seems pleased with his final decision. Of course, I think he's also thinking in that little head of his, "well, if I don't like it...I can move back....". Doug and I have both told him that that won't work, but that's when I thought I was going to have to move out asap, and find an apartment/job. The fact that he's willing to pay the house expenses buys him some time.

Working

Hi Everyone. sorry I've fallen behind in my e-mails. I've been working for Doug this week, to help him straighten up the place after having 800 customers run through last Sunday! I will be working Saturday and Sunday, if any of you were planning on visiting me. Sorry. Carry on, troops!

Progress

Hi Everyone, Well....we made progress in the "move-not-move" drama today. Doug and I sat down with Grampa and talked about it. Just when I think Grampa has definitely decided to do it, he turns to me and asks what I think, which makes me feel like he's not sure. I know it's a big.......scratch that.....HUGE move for him. Having been a pack rat his entire life, I suppose even the thought of giving away his possessions is hard for him. He had a dose of reality today, when he invited two stamp dealers over to hopefully sell his collection. Grampa has a way of thinking that everything that you hold onto for years, appreciates in value. Well, I guess for years he's been thinking his stamp collection was super valuable! They offered him $140 for all the books and loose stamps in boxes. He was furious, to put it mildly! He said he's rather BURN them, than sell them to THOSE THIEVES! So, anyone want a stamp collection? Seriously........anyone?
Other than that, I continue to thin out all the things that are just not worthy of being passed down through the generations. It looks like I might stay in the house for a few months, once Grampa moves into Hebert's. That move could possibly take place as soon as Hebert's tells us they have a double room, so Nana and Grampa can be together. On the other hand, it might be months before there's an opening. It'll take a while to empty the house. For the past two days, we've had one of the neighbors (a retired painter) painting the trim on the house. Boy, it looks super!!! Grampa told me the trim has never been painted here, so that means 16 years of no fresh paint! It's so white now, it's glowing!!!
Mike and Liz are going to be coming up sometime in the next month or so, to pick up my fouton, and some dishes, pots and pans, etc. I'll be sending some glass to Maureen for her collection, and some smaller things out to you Kate. If anyone has any special requests let me know.
There's a very good chance, after Grampa moves, that I will be trying to figure out how to move back to CT. I haven't made that decision yet. After having cared for both of my parents for the past two years.....CT is dangerously far away from them, if they needed me. I suspect I'd be a nervous wreck. It would cost me too much to live here alone, until they are both gone. I don't want to pay for all that oil this winter to keep this huge house warm!!!
As always......I will keep everyone posted.

Evil.....

O.K. who's the evil one who introduced me to Facebook? Maureen????? You're sooooooooo busted!!!!

I have to admit it hurts.

Well, I know this has been a topic on my blog before, but I need to dump it on here again. Yesterday I went in to visit Nana. As I approached her, she frowned at me and said, "Who are you?" Thinking it was her eyesight that was an issue, I put my face closer to hers and gave her my best, silly, happy Eileen face. Nope. She STILL didn't know who I was. When I said, "I'm Eileen, your daughter", she replied with, "you don't LOOK like my daughter." The thought crossed my mind that I didn't know how to look any MORE like me than I do.

My horrible ex-sister-in-law used to say, "the moment just pulls at your heartstrings." My kids and I used to laugh at comments like that and roll our eyes. But, literally, I thought I could feel a knife slip right into my heart. It was all I could do to get out one sentence, before I felt the tears forcing their way out of my eyes.....no matter how hard I tried to stop them. (Biting my tongue didn't help, but it sure hurt!) So.......off we went about our day, ignoring the fact that my Mother did not know me. That's a tough one.

Change of plans......for now

Hi Everyone. Well, on our way over to visit Nana today, Grampa said he had "reconsidered moving into Hebert's" and he said, "Maybe it's not time yet. I was looking at all the nice clothes I have in my closet, and that would mean I'd have to give most of them away....and they I would have to give up my gardens......and cooking......" "So", he said, "I guess you'll have to put up with me for a while longer." I told him whatever he wants to do is fine with me.

However, in the back of my mind, I will still be working on the solutions, as the situation WILL COME.....sooner or later.

It's cool, damp and overcast today. When we got home, I had to put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Bbbbrrrrrrr!

Nana was in great spirits today, but her short term memory was about 30 seconds. Her two most frequently asked questions are "How old am I?" and "How long have I been here?" Today, Grampa and I took terns answering the questions. About her age, her usual comment is "Wow! I'm THAT old??? THAT'S old!!!" hehehehe.

The winds are changing......

As of today, my focus is on moving again. This particular move may take a while, but a move is a move......moving sucks. When it's all done, it's usually for the best, but there are thousands of decisions that have to be made for a move. I've never been very good at standing in the boat, when it's rocking! I promise all of you I will keep you updated on the ETA for this project. It could be months.....it could be a year.....it could be in two weeks.....nah.....not two weeks! There's too much to do. We are in the process of just checking with Grampa to make sure this is what he wants, and not just because he's had a couple of bad days, physically.

I do understand that he's only happy when he's with Nana. I watch that every day. Do I think he's ready to sign himself into a nursing home just to be with her? I don't know. I do see people in Hebert's who are in better shape than he is, and they seem quite happy. One of Grampa's buddies who he chats with when we go down, has been an inspiration to him. Of course, Matt has a totally different set of circumstances. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I had a wonderful visit with Liz and Mike this past weekend. We tried to squish as much fun into 20 hours as we could, and I think we did a damn fine job! Their house is amazing and beautiful and I just can't imagine how it must shock them every morning, when they wake up.....look around and say......."this is our home!" The house itself is beautiful, and it sits on probably the most stunning piece of land I've seen in a long, long time! Spending a few hours there, plus their smiles, and some 5 star food.....well, I'll tell you! It was refreshing to me, and felt like I was on a mini-vacation!!! Someday I hope to live closer to them. Maybe not actually in South Windsor, as I think it might be kinda expensive, but at least close enough to visit them once in a while. That would be nice. That's my plan, anyway!

Woopee!!!!!

Well, tomorrow I head down to CT for a well deserved day off! I'll leave right after lunch, and head down via RT 44. One of the times I went down to visit Liz and Mike, I happened upon Willimantic, CT.....the town with the amazing frog sculptures sitting on top of giant metal spools. I just love them! Unfortunately, on that trip I was rushed for time and could not stop to explore the town. What made it worse was I noticed a rather large, fancy looking quilt shop on Main Street. So, tomorrow, that will be my first stop! I'm also hoping to find a book store, with some local books explaining the history of the town, which OBVIOUSLY has something to do with mills and textiles....hence the giant thread spools, but the frogs? Hum.....I'm dying to find out what they mean.

After wandering around for a while, I'll head to Liz and Mike's. I'm looking forward to relaxing with them, and enjoying their new home! I'll be bringing my old, trusty, custom made butcher block cart with me.....along with a TV that has been sitting in storage for two years. Who knows, maybe the TV isn't any good, after all that dampness.....we'll see. I noticed that I only have three pieces of furniture in my storage unit......and some boxes. For that I pay $117 a month to store. I'm hoping I can talk Mike and Liz into letting me store the 20 boxes at their house, thereby saving myself some money. They already told me they would take the fouton. I have an antique jelly cabinet in there, that I'm going to somehow squeeze into my room for more fabric storage space. I have my most valuable piece of furniture down there, which I think Mike and Liz wouldn't mind holding onto for me......it's the beautiful coffee table that Maureen made for me in her shop class in high school! The last piece of furniture in there, is a maple table that Amy let me borrow for my apartment in Wickford. I'll be returning that to her this summer. So, with that said,......all I have left is about 20 boxes. Surely, not worth the storage fees!

Well, it's time to get ready for my big adventure! Time to do some laundry, charge up the cellphone, mapquest directions, get the camera.....etc. Oh boy, oh boy! I'll be free for about 27 hours! Ahhhhh.....nothing like a day off!!! Can't wait!

Nana's Birthday

Yesterday was Nana's 93rd birthday. Grampa and I got to Hebert's at 11a.m. bearing gifts. She was "surprised" that it was her special day, even though we had been talking about it every day for a month! "OH TODAY? I didn't know that! I'm not prepared! I have nothing nice to wear." So, I reminded her that yes, in fact, she was prepared, and we had already picked out fancy clothes for her to wear.......and then she was happy.

Doug and Allyson arrived bearing gifts and flowers about ten minutes later. Nana had a blast opening her presents. She did always love to get presents! (See Flickr pictures.) After opening presents, we all left to go to the restaurant. On the drive over, with Nana sitting in the front passenger seat, and Grampa sitting in the back seat......Nana asked "Where are we?", and , "Where are we going?" dozens of times. As we passed a rather large boat with a for sale sign on it, I asked her if she wanted to buy a boat. She responded by quickly saying, "Do you want to buy me a pond?" hahahaha. You go, girl!!!

Lunch was fun, even if the food wasn't great. Nana feasted on clam cakes, lobster roll and curly fries. She enjoyed every speck of it! For dessert she ordered the Willy Wonka Cake, and I ordered the Hot Fudge Sundae to share. The entire wait staff came out with a lit candle on her cake, singing happy birthday. They were clapping in unison, and Nana's eyes lit up like huge, silver dollars when she could not figure out what the commotion was! When we said, "Oh look......I think they're coming over here!"....She was just tickled!

On the way back to Hebert's she again asked dozens of times, "Where ARE we?"

Just that little trip OUTSIDE to a place other than Hebert's got her confused. However, we somehow managed to nip that in the bud before it turned into a crisis, like her last trip "out". When I told her, "We are where we are SUPPOSED to be.".......that made her happy and she settled down. I don't know why I used that particular word. I guess I thought I would try it, but I never expected it to work so well. It seemed to calm her and be just the right word at the time.

We got her settled in her blue chair, and once she started to fall asleep, we said good bye and left. Today she may or may not remember any of it. If not, we'll tell her all about it, and she will be delighted all over again! It's sort of like the movie Ground Hog Day!

It looks like it might rain today. I'm actually happy about that. It forces me to stay inside and work on some art projects that have been neglected while I spend most of my free time outside in the garden. If I finish my painting projects, I can unbury my sewing machine and get back to that!

Heat wave is over.......phew.......

Whew........finally, our four day heat wave is over! It tapped 100 degrees a couple of times. I'm so NOT a hot weather person.....don't have a clue how those people down in Florida can stand it! Well, it's only 87 degrees this afternoon, but with the lower humidity, it's not bad at all.

Our gardens are full of "stuff", like Nana likes to say.....and now it's just a matter of standing back and watching things grow. Of course there's always little critters to deal with. This morning, I planted about 24 plants, and some little animal dug up two! Good thing I noticed, before the plants died.

So, as of today we have about four different types of tomatoes! Yikes! WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!! We also have green peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, beets, radishes, green beans (bush and pole) turnips, butternut squash, parsley, basil, dill, and lots and lots of flowers! I'll take pictures as the season progresses, so you can see it all before it turns into one, huge, mosquito infested jungle!!!

Nana was good today. They had a concert at 2p.m. which we went to. The singer sang lots of old songs......and Nana remembered a lot of the words. We also spent quite a bit of time fooling around and giggling. It was fun, and both Nana and Grampa enjoyed it. At least I THINK Grampa enjoyed it.....he rolled his eyes a lot! Is that enjoying it? Yes,.......

Some of the girls who work at Hebert's have adopted Nana. Ann, one of the girls from the activities department got together with Nana and they started a club. It's called the "BFF for Frogs, Club." Nana and Ann are the co-Presidents, and I am the Vice President of Comedy. Grampa is the bouncer. Chris wants to join, but only if she can use her bar name....."Ruby the Barmaid". We're still deciding on that. She said, if she can't join our club, she'll start "her own freekin' club", to which Nana responded, "That would be O.K. We'd like some competition!" Ah, Nana.....

Tonight I'm going to the movies. I haven't decided what I'll see yet. It's a tossup between two. Guess I'll flip a coin!

Five Years ago today

Five years ago today, at exactly this hour....I was sitting at my brother's bed, holding his hand, stroking his forehead and telling him it was "O.K. to go...." He had spent about 15 hours gasping for breath, and Doug and I just wanted it to be over for him. I asked the nurse on duty how long he could hang on like that, and she just gave me a sad look and said, "It could be an hour, or it could be all night into tomorrow." Somehow, I guess I thought he would make it through the night. In a moment of weakness, I let Doug talk me into coming back to the house here. We were worried about Mom and Dad. My brother died about two hours after I left him. It's a decision I will regret for the rest of my life. I regret few things, but that's one of them. I wish I had been there for him. Don died at 11:05p.m. He was a great brother.

After he died, Doug came to the house to tell us. Sometime during the night, after I had fallen asleep...I woke up startled to feel a large, very warm hand on my forehead! I sat up so fast, and turned on the light....and looked at my own hand, not understanding what had happened, but I know it wasn't MY hand I felt. I guess it was Don's way of telling me, he was watching over me now! I know he is. He continues to be a great brother.

oH BOY!!! Now I've done it! I pasted the connection of the Simpson's Avitar (her name is Lilybud, by the way) into my Blog, and I don't know how to get it off! I didn't think the moving part would go onto my blog......just the directions to get to it! Yikes! Hope this doesn't screw up my computer! See????? I knew I should have taken a nap, instead of playing!! It's all Maureen's fault, as she's going to ride the new Simpson's ride at Universal Studios any minute now, and I felt left out!!! HELP!~!!!!!

HELP!!!!!!

Copy and Paste this!!!

UberNana and another quilt......

So, yesterday I officially finished Maureen's quilt. She's been so patient, since it was supposed to be a Christmas present! Anyway, the binding was stitched on, as I sat at Hebert's, next to UberNana, chatting. When I finished, I announced that it was done, and I put it on Nana's lap. She was thrilled, and gently, and carefully looked at every color and seam....complementing me on my wonderful workmanship! All of a sudden, she dramatically pulled the quilt up to her neck, and pretended it put her immediately to sleep! We all laughed, and she thanked me for the Christmas Quilt. Hum......I looked at Grampa, and we both raised our eyebrows. After her saying that a few times, and me telling her that quilt was for Maureen....I finally got up, took HER Ocean Quilt off her bed, and put it on her (taking Maureen's off her) and she said, "Wow! Who's is this? This is beautiful!" So, I had to tell her a few times that that one was hers, and I made it for her for Christmas.......last Christmas....and that it had been on her bed for five months. She said she really liked it, but "no, really.....who's is it?" hehehe
When it was time to go, she wanted to give it back to me! We talked her into "holding onto it for the day", and to enjoy her nap!
Loosing your short term memory is a terrible thing, but sometimes, SOMEHOW.....it's rather entertaining! Aw......that's an awful thing to say, but it's true!!!

Nana's Cat scan

This morning, I arrived at Hebert's around 9a.m. to escort Nana to Fatima Hospital in N. Providence, for a Cat scan of her left eye. She was happy to see me in the morning, as I don't usually see her until after lunch. We sat and chatted, and waited for the van driver. She seemed fine.

Before we left, I whispered to the head nurse that a trip like this could have a big effect on Mom's mood. Even such a small change in her routine, as going out for a while, could upset the apple cart!

She was fine at the hospital, and seemed to be enjoying her outing. Quiet a few times, while we waited for the tests, she whispered to me, "If they ask, what should I tell them is wrong with me?" She seemed content, when I said, "Just tell them your left eye is giving you trouble." After being asked that question a dozen of times, I decided to try a different approach. I said, "Well, you're here for your eye, but you could tell them anything you want. You could even make up stuff!" She laughed, and then told me that wasn't such a good idea! All of a sudden she said, "Well, they'd better get the show on the road, because I'm getting hungry!!!" The Cat scan took about three minutes......waiting time was about 45 minutes.

After the xray, she seemed fine....laughing and joking about different things. I followed her back to Hebert's. Since we got back at 11:55a.m., I took her directly into the dining room where they had just started serving lunch. Well, that's when it all fell apart. She started to cry. She asked where she was, why was she there.....how long had she been there.......told me she felt awful......and lost. So, like the devoted daughter that I am, I started crying also! Hey, when in Rome.......

I tried for ten minutes to calm her down, and then decided nothing was working, so I made sure she was settled at the table.....said I'd be back after lunch with Dad, and then left. On my way out, I stopped at the nurses' desk and told them she was crying. I guess she was doing so well, all along, that it did take me by surprise. They promised to give her extra attention.

It took me 20 minutes to drive back to the house, 30 minutes to have lunch and another 20 minutes to drive back with Dad. When we got there, she was sitting in the activities room, with about 50 other residents, smiling, singing and clapping along with the music from the Providence Civic Orchestra!!! She had forgotten all about her sadness, an hour earlier! Thank God for short term memory loss. See? It does actually work to out advantage, sometimes!

The concert lasted an hour, and was fantastic. We all enjoyed it and it could not have come at a better time!!!

Plants! Plants! Plants!

Well, two days ago I made a trip to Anderson's farm. Along with growing vegetables for their road side farm stand, and some farmer's markets......then grow plants to sell in the spring. Eight greenhouses filled with flower seedlings, herbs, vegetables, etc. Every year, Dad and I go there to pick up the plants that we don't grow by seed ourselves. This year, I did the flower run alone. Wow, what fun that was! First of all, it was raining.......which was quite nice, actually. It keep all the riff raff home......the wimps.....the psudo-gardeners. (The truth is, I was the ONLY NUT there.) Anyway, I digress....

There I was, lone in eight greenhouses (one at a time, of course!) lusting over all sorts of beautiful plants......trying to imagine how they would look full grown....deciding where to put each one of them. It was great fun. By the time I checked out, I had $47 worth of baby plants. Not bad, considering my budget was $50, birthday money from my brother.

The next day, I went back with Dad and we picked up the vegetable plants. Tomato plants, zucchini, lettuce, peppers (Mike, we got some hot ones for you!) etc. Now, you should see all the plants we have to babysit for a month....moving them into the den in the evening, and back outside in the morning.

Lots of those used to be planted by seed here, at Arthur's farm.......but he can't do that anymore, so we settle for letting "old man Anderson" do it! Of course, little does Arthur know, that's only the tip of the iceberg!! In a couple of weeks, I'll be making my trip down to The Farmer's Daughter for some of my more unusual plants, that can't be found around here.

Sometime in the next month, I also plan on going to a local herb farm, and stocking up on chives, dill, fennel, and lemon grass. I'm ashamed to say, I don't even use that much in cooking, I just love how they look in the garden.

Since we had rain for two days, I started on the brown quilt that I was supposed to make in the class that I missed. Hum..... Step #2 has me completely stumped, and I've had to work my way around it for a while. I actually made it up to Step #7 before I ran into the part where I actually need those pieces to continue. Fridays, at the quilt shop they have a $5.00 drop in fee, and for that you can work in their classroom and get help for the morning. I had planned on bringing my problem to them tomorrow, until I found out Mom has to have a MRI on her eyes at Our Lady of Fatima hospital tomorrow at 9:30a.m. So, I'll be following the van down to the hospital with her. If I'm not there, she would be completely confused and worried. Heck! Even with me there, a little trip like that will be enough to upset her for the day. Wish us luck!

I'll keep you all posted on that one. We're pretty sure these days, that her red eyelids have been caused somehow by her Macular Degeneration, but the MD just wants to be sure there's nothing else going on there. Her left eye is always worse than her right eye.

Finally it's Spring!

Well, it's finally Spring! The flowering trees are starting to bloom.......Daffodils are in full show, and yesterday I heard the first of the Spring Peepers! It was quite the symphony, that's for sure! I literally pulled my car off the road, and parked next to a swamp, just to listen to them! That, and a low-on-the-horizon full moon was just too much for me to bear!! I love Spring!!!

Today, I'll continue my spring cleaning in our gardens. There's much to do now, that's for sure! I'm always anxious to get the maintenance jobs done, so I can get to the really fun parts.......like planting new perennials, and dividing the old ones! That's when you see the most progress in the garden. I've a few new tricks up my sleeve this year....things I planned up during the winter months. I hope they work, as funds are not as big as they have been in past years. Most springs, I've spent way more than my allotted allowance for flowers. I just can't seem to help myself. They little buggers call to me, as I walk about garden centers! "Choose me! Choose me!!!"

It takes a couple of years, to really get to know a garden. I still have some problem areas out front, where it's mostly dry, sandy, shady soil. That's a bad, and difficult area to plant. My plan this year, was to leave the leaves on the ground to help add organic matter, and some moisture retention. It looks kinda crappy, as though I forgot to clean it up.......but we'll see how that works! I'd love to plant some Hosta in there, but I'm not sure they would like all that dry soil. We'll see.

O.K. I guess I have work to do!

I hate to whine......

I really do hate to whine, so if whining isn't your thing.....look away! I'm bored, bored, bored. My days are so boring I can't stand it! For some reason it's been much worse in the past week! I hate routine. Routine is boring! Everything about living in this house is a routine....meals....TV......everything! When my "tour of duty" is completed (that sounds cold-hearted, I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to call this) I'm going to be a drooling, babbling idiot, for sure! I desperately need to get out of this rut for a while......somehow.

I was a relatively happy person when I started on this mission. Granted, I take anti-depressants, but those just get me back to my normal self! However, living with someone who always sees the glass as half empty........always points out the negative in everything.......always complains how the world is run.....what's wrong with the world....(without giving any suggestions as to what SHOULD be done)....and never, ever points out something good.....IS KILLING ME!!! I want to SMACK him on the side of the head and scream ''SNAP OUT OF IT!!!" but I can't. So, I will continue to take lots of deep breaths, whine once in a while to release some pressure.......and eat ice cream!

O.K. well, that didn't make me feel any better, so I guess I'll go get some ice cream! That only makes me feel better for about 10 minutes, and then I feel guilty. I want to run away and be a Gypsy!!! Maureen, can I come and sleep on your living room floor again??

Time flies when you're having fun/2

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged here. Maybe it's because I do write a lot of e-mails, and by the time I'm done with those...it's also time to turn the computer off.

Yesterday we visited UberNana. As soon as I walked over to her, I noticed that she had a frantic look on her face. "What's wrong Mom?" "Well, I feel TERRIBLE", she said. When I asked her what felt terrible, she said, "I'm LOST! I don't know where I am or what's happening to me!!!" Oh boy. Every now and then we have a day like this. These are the most painful days.

So, we showered her with kisses and hugs and tried to reassure her she wasn't lost. And then we answered the questions, over and over and over. She wanted to know where she was...."what's this place"...."how did I get here?"....."WHY am I here"?...."how long have I been here?" ....."Why can't I go home".....and "but there's nothing wrong with me!!!" It really takes quite a while to gently move her away from those thoughts and back to the moment.

Eventually we had her laughing and talking about candy.....silly things that happened that day.....and our big plan to buy a Gypsie wagon and tour the country selling snake potions and doing belly dancing!!! (Poor Grampa just shakes his head and laughes.....but he did say he would drive the wagon!)

By the time we leave, she's back to her happy self....and I'm spending hours trying to shake off the gloomy feeling. It's gone now, and hopefully she won't suffer with one of those mood attacks again for a while. It's only happened a couple of times in the three months she's been there, so all in all I guess we're doing pretty good. Considering what a wild and totally crazy woman she was 15 months ago, when all of this Dementia thing finally exploded, I guess we're doing great! Thank God for medications!!!

24 Hours are up!

Well, my 24 hrs off are done! I did have fun. Yesterday I went shopping for a wedding gift for Susan and George. I finally found exactly what I wanted at Pier I. After that, I drove up to my favorite quilt shop, and hung out for a while. I did pick up a few FQ's fo new fabric.....sort of jungle themed. Can't resist!
Mid afternoon I went to see a movie that Kate and Mark had advised me not to see. Doomsday. O.K., so they were right! The popcorn was good though!
After a quick cruise through the craft store, I was home for the evening. It seemed strange for Arthur not to be here. He'll be back tonight, though.
This morning, I unpacked four boxes from my storage unit....mostly knick-knacks. I managed to wiggle most of them into Nana's china hutch. I came across a few things that will go into the tag sale box. It's best to do those types of projects when Arthur is gone, as he doesn't like to see changes made to the house. When he's here, I actually sneak things into the house. Some day, I suppose I will be the one to get all this crap OUT of this house! That'll be fun.
O.K. off to pick up the King!

Grand Opening

Way to go Mike!!! Yesterday's Grand Opening of the new Whole Foods store was a huge success! I was so happy that I could be there. Your department is awesome, and I know you've put in tons of work to get it up and running.

I was just so proud of all of the compliments your peers gave to you on our walk around the store. They sure love you at Whole Foods!

Great job Mikey!!!

Lost in life?

I guess I'm not a very faithful blogger! I can't believe so many days have gone by, since my last blog. I'd love to say that it's because I've been up to all sorts of exciting things, but alas, it's not true. Maybe all bloggers and writers go through non-creative, I-Just-Don't-feel-like-it-today, feelings, although it's not good to have ssoooooooooooooooo many.

Yesterday I drove 259 miles, in a horrible rain storm, to celebrate Susan's bridal shower. It's still odd to think about her getting married, after 50 years of her being very single. I sure hope she knows what she's getting herself into! Not that I have anything against marriage, mind you. Susan and I have been friend for 20 some odd years, and I can't tell you how many thousands (O.K., so maybe hundreds.....dozens? Oh stop!) of conversations we've had on the subject and she has given me......um.....lots of reasons why she would never get married. I suppose with age she's softened on some of those, or at least I hope so, as she and George will be getting married in two weeks. Bless them both! The wedding should be lots of fun, as there will be some old friends of ours that I haven't seen in 15 years!

Roger Williams Zoo

Well, today three women from Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, brought some animals for an outing to Hebert's. Nana was all excited, but it turned out it wasn't exactly what she had planned. The first little guy was a white Hedgehog....which Nana couldn't even SEE.....then we had two white rats.....she didn't see those either. They did bring a really cool type of lizard from Austrailia, that she liked, but unfortunately she could not see the beautiful BLUE tongue he had! They also had a big constrictor snake, which I was just dying to pat, but they would not let anyone touch the animals. (Partially, so that the animals don't get stressed out....and partially because the snake and lizzard have samonella sometimes on their skin, and they didn't want to put the residents at risk.) All in all, I think most of the residents enjoyed the afternoon. Nana said, "Well, they could speed it up a little! My bum hurts!!!" heheheh....

Rescued from Bingo

Well, we got to Hebert's a little later than usual. By the time I had signed into the "Guest book", Grampa had already located Nana in the activities room, and had gotten himself a chair right next to her. When I walked in, and put my arms around Nana.......she said, "Oh good, you're here! Get me out of here!" So, laughingly I said, "What, you don't want to play Bingo today?" "No, absolutely not!", she said. So, as I was pushing her down the hallway, in her wheelchair, she said, "Oh boy, am I glad to see you guys! I've been rescued!" When I said to her, "Would you like to go sit in your comfortable blue recliner?" she answered, "That sounds wonderful!" And so it was, that the little group limped and rolled into room 83 and spent the next 90 minutes chatting and trying to keep Nana awake, if for no other reason than she would have one heck of a good nap when we left! She was happy today, and comfortable.

When it was time to leave, I went through all of the daily rituals.......checking to be sure her drinking water was within reach.....klenex...the TV on the Ellen Degeneres show...alarms hooked up to alert the nurses if Nana attempts to get out of the chair alone....etc. When I kissed her, she said "Where are you going?" My every day answer is, "Oh, I have to drive Dad home, so he can take HIS nap." She always smiles and says that's a good idea. But today, she said, "Do I stay here?" That's always a tough one, and I ALWAYS have to fight back the tears. I've learned if I bite on my bottom lip really fast and hard, it stops any tears (for the moment) so I can spit out "Yes, this is where you sleep, but we'll be back tomorrow to visit again." So, she smiles, we wave and it's back in the car for the ride home.

Nana's room mate has "the bug" and so lets all hope that Nana doesn't catch it. Irene was in bed for the day, and the two women don't cross paths often, so just keep your fingers crossed. I'm still surprised that Nana didn't catch my cold, or Grampa's cold. She's still a tough little Irish woman!

No Title Day

Well, there! That settles THAT problem! I won't title this.......and nor should I HAVE to.....it's my blog, and I'll do what I want! Now that we have that issue resolved....hum.....

Tuesday is not my favorite day of the week. By Tuesday, the rush of the weekend fun is wearing off.....and it's a long way to payday. The weather up here in New England is warm (for us in winter) but overcast. We managed to melt quite a bit of snow yesterday, as I believe the temperatures went up to around 50 degrees.

My two favorite birds are back with us, and that would be the two Wrens who live under our porch. I was getting worried that they had maybe found a new home......but they're back. I was watching them, while I was washing the breakfast dishes (and listening to my iPod on my new speakers, that came in yesterday! What an awesome treat!!!) Anyway, what makes the Wrens so special is that they are slightly bigger than a hummingbird and are the most spectacular sable color! My friends.....

Other than that, there's not much going on around here today. Nana was good yesterday when we visited. She's happiest when she's sitting in her recliner chair, with Grampa sitting on one side holding her left hand, and me sitting on the right side holding her other hand. Running out of fun things to talk about yesterday, Nana and I started punching around the Valentine's helium balloon. We got quite violent, and kept it up for so long......Grampa gave me the evil eye! Hahaha. "But DAD! We're not done yet!!!" Nana laughed and said, "Yeah, DAD!" Hey, it's the little things. Needless to say, we're all anxious for warmer weather, when we can go outside and explore the new patios and walkways.

Recharging batteries.....

I just realized that a "day off" is like recharging my batteries. Silly, I know, but that's what it feel like. I didn't do anything spectacular.....just did what I do best, which is WANDER and EXPLORE. I love the feeling of being FREE when I just meander through the area. Yesterday, I chose to meander in Wickford, still one of my favorite places in the area. News for those of you who know them, JULIE and PALMER are pregnant! She looks wonderful, and tells me it's a girl and she's due in May. What great news for them!
JW Graham is still the most popular store in Wickford and always fun to explore to see what's new. Wickford Flowers was a bit of a disappointment, but I suppose this is the slowest month of the year, so I'll forgive them.
My goal was to find the quilt shop that was supposed to be in Smithfield, on Rt 5......but I never did find it! (I left the exact directions at home, along with the name of the shop.....duh......) Maybe the directions I found online are old and outdated. Oh well......staying out of quilt shops saves me money!
UberNana was quiet and seemed sad yesterday......that was the report from Grampa. I'll have to check that out today. Maybe she was feeling a bit under the weather, as there are lots of colds going around.
Well, back to "work" today with all of us! Yes, even YOU, Kate. You have the HARDEST JOB of all.........trust me, I know!

Snow

We are getting some SERIOUS snow right now. Usually I enjoy it a lot, but since we've had so much spring like weather lately, I'm kinda in a different season in my head! The snow is really light, and I'm thinking I can beat the system, by going out with my broom and swooshing it off the walk every half hour or so! That should eliminate the bulk of the lifting. That's my theory, and I'm going to test it out. I'll keep you posted. Other than that, the snow gives me a day off from our routine, and lots more time to work on Maureen's quilt! Maybe I'll get it done today! Let's hope!

Lunar Eclipse

.It's 11p.m. and I just stepped outside to view the lunar eclipse. It's almost full and quite a spectacular sight. However, I find it to be quite creepy and it falls into the "that's not right" category in my brain! It looks too much like the Hollywood versions in the horror flicks!

St. Patrick's Tree

Sometimes things just HAPPEN. I seem to have started a new tradition. Since my elderly mother could not bear to see her little Christmas tree be put away......I decorated it in reds and pinks for Valentine's day and the month of February. Well, it's official.....it's now a St. Patrick's Day Tree. It, of course, has green, sparkling shamrock garland on it. I also painted two dozen stars green, and put glitter on them. The ribbon this month, is a light green sheer, with white polka-dots. I also bought, and painted six words to hang on it. "LOVE'', "LIFE", "FAMILY", "SMILES", "LAUGHTER", and ''WISH''. It looks really cute. .....sort of a sophisticated St. Patty's tree. Well, think about it......I could have put Guinness Stout beer bottles on it! Nana really seems to enjoy looking at the tree, which is all I really care about.
I'm counting the days until I have another day off again! Friday I'm due to drive down to CT to meet Amy and the monsters. The weatherman seems to want to send some snow to us on the same day, but I think I'll be home by the time the excitement starts! We'll see.
Other than that, it's a quiet day at the old Fort.

Carol's wake

This evening I said good bye to my cousin's wife, Carol. She finally looks peaceful, after gasping for breath for years! She has two adult children, who were doing well. As I sat in the living room of the funeral home, and observed everyone, I was saddened for "the kids". My cousin Buddy died five years ago, leaving two kids and a few grandchildren. Now, his wife, Carol...my cousin Alfred died four years ago leaving two kids also. My brother Don died five years ago, also leaving two kids and grandchildren. All of these young people, in their 30's have lost their parents already! I'm sixty, and still have mine! I've been blessed with an extra 30 years of having parents. Hum....

I hope I've inherited the longevity genes from my parents, because I hope to be around for a long time! I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up! There's still THAT......whatever it is!

Sixty Two degrees

Just a short little note today.......Sixty Two degrees! AH......it felt like SPRING! Sadly, the sun went into hiding late morning, otherwise the temperature would have gone even higher! I remember years when we had major snowstorms on Presidents' day! so, NAH....NAH.....to all you people in warmer climates! We're catching up to you!

My new speakers have been shipped so will probably arrive in the next day or so! I just can't wait to have music in the kitchen! I live such a simple life......hehehehe.

Other than that, it's been quite the uneventful day.

Fofana

Well, this morning I met my friend Fofana down in East Providence, for coffee. It was nice to see her and be able to sit and talk for a couple of hours. When I was getting ready to leave, she went to her car and came back with a gift for me. It was a "skirt" from Africa, where she is from. It's this really huge piece of brightly colored fabric, with two ties coming off of both of the top corners. When I thanked her and then said, "I don't know how to put it on...." she laughed and said, "Hold it in your hands, and then just spin...there's lots of different ways to wear it." This afternoon, I brought it with me on my visit to see my mother in the nursing home. She got the biggest kick out of it, and my demonstration of how I assumed it was worn. I did drape it over my Mom's legs, while she was sitting in the chair, and she seemed quite amused by all the color. Considering she is now classified as "legally blind", I suspect she could see the colors fairly well, as she sure liked it!

Who knew so much spinning took practice, but I plan on perfecting my spinning, and I'll wear it at home, and maybe out when the weather is warmer.

Sad news today is that my cousin's wife died. She had been sick for years, suffering from a lung condition as a result of years of smoking. She gasped for every breath she took for the past few years, and had to wear an Oxygen tank 24/7. If any of you out there are still smoking, I just want you to know that's pretty much WHERE you are going. It's a long, and horrible way to die. STOP SMOKING! If you don't want to do it for yourselves, do it for your future children.

Nano's speakers

Well, my children and grand daughter will be proud to know that I've made yet another commitment to technology. After quite a bit of reading, and price comparing......I ordered speakers for my beautiful little Nano. Primarily, I will be using them in the kitchen, when I do dishes, laundry and floor washing! Eeeeks, wait.....maybe music in the kitchen will actually make me spend MORE time on these things! Oh dear, I didn't think about THAT before I ordered them......

Oh well, I can't wait for the package to arrive and for the music to spread from my ears into the surrounding room. I wonder how my elderly father will take to Latin Lounge or Electronica! Hum......if I keep the volume down, he'll probably never even hear it! I guess I'll have to download some big band sounds for him.

Have a happy day!

Spring weather in Winter

For all of you Florida and California people (and you know who you are!) I'll have you know the weather up here is absolutely beautiful today! The temperatures are supposed to hit the mid 60's. The skies are crystal clear, the sun is shining and the breezes are light. I think I might even go for a walk!

Anyone out there care to give me a suggestion on a docking system for my new iPod Nano? I've decided that would be nice to use in the kitchen, when I'm doing the dishes and cooking, since we only have a cheap, little radio out there.......and I don't enjoy listening to it. Now if I could get some of my own music out there, it would be great! I don't need a Bose system, and I also don't even need a radio/alarm, etc. So, with that in mind, any suggestions?

Nothing new here today. I guess I talked to all of you yesterday. Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day. (Mike and Liz, I hope your pizza was heart shaped!)

Rain on the East Coast

The weather on the East Coast has been so crazy this year! Global warming, I suppose. Anyway, we had about two inches of snow during the night, but now the temperature is 42 degrees and it's been raining for a couple of hours.......so there goes the snow. That's fine with me, as I don't seem to be in the mood to shovel snow this year, anyway!!!

Maureen's quilt is moving along. I worked on it quite a bit yesterday, until I hit some snags and could not quite figure out what to do next. I saw on my bed, and looked at it on the design wall.....and wondered.....hum.......now what! I hope my brain figured out the solution to that question during the night, and I'll be ready to finish some more of it. Maureen, you've been sooooooooooooo patient! It's really coming along, HONEST!

Mike is starting his new position at the new store this week. I'm excited to see it!!! He'll go a great job, and it'll be one more notch in his belt! Go get 'em, tiger!

Liz must be thinking, just about now, that this school thing will NEVER END! It's sort of like the ninth month of a pregnancy!! Time just seems to slow down! Hang in there girl!!! You are getting there!! I'm sure you have started to do a countdown in weeks already!

Well, I have absolutely nothing deeply profound to say today, so I guess I'll go quilt!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Time flies......I can't believe I have not blogged since before I left for California! I had a wonderful time out there! Kate and Mark, thank you so much for the plane tickets and the vacation! I really needed it, and had a blast! It was wonderful to see you both and of course, the little Miss Mina! She's so wonderful and it's hard to believe how fast she's growing! Yeah, yeah......I had three kids, but funny how I don't remember any of you growing THAT fast! I suppose you did, but when you're with a baby every day, maybe you don't notice it as much.
Everything about a first baby is an education. Some things are by trial and error......well, many things are. Or maybe we should call it "trial by fire". Anyway, it's a time of extremes. On the one side, it's all about this intense feeling of love for this little creature........and on the other side, it's the pains of knowing your nice, quiet, comfortable life has been changed forever!
For any of you who might be in THAT situation (and you know who you are!) I have one viewpoint for you to consider! Everything in a child's life seems to go in stages, and if you are in one that is not the easiest.....FEAR NOT.....it's only a stage, and you WILL get through it! The secret is to read as much as you can, and self educate yourself about your options for parenting. The second most important thing is to communicate, especially when things are the hardest. Parenting, and raising kids works best when it's a team activity. That's not to say that it will be easy because of that...but it will be easier than if each parent tries to go it alone. Don't be afraid to admit you need help....do not be afraid to admit that you're crawling up the walls! Sometimes all it takes is a free afternoon off.....a trip to a friend's house.....a spa......the movies.......out for coffee....or a nap (not all in one afternoon, though. That would be too much to pray for!)
And finally, staying home with a screaming baby is NOT EASY and will shake anyone's nerves after a while! Just take a deep breath. And if none of this works, it would not hurt to have a conversation with your doctor for some new suggestions.

Flight Day!

Well, today is the day!!! I'm all packed and ready to go on my adventure!!! I have things to read, eat and listen to! God knows I'll have stuff to look at! Get ready, Miss Mina!!! Nana's on her way!!!!! We're gonna have fun!!!

Leaving on a jet plane........

Well, tomorrow is our big day! Oh, how I HATE to fly!!! But, I'll be fine! I have everything I need for my trip. Not absolutely sure I've packed the right clothes, as I hear you've had a lot of rain out there. When I was there in September, it was chilly. Well, I'll be sure to pack sneakers along with my awesome flip-flops!!!
Besides, I'm looking forward to spending comfy time on the couch with little miss Mina!!! Oh, I know what I almost forgot!!! I need to look at a couple of my favorite cookbooks tonight, just in case I'm expected to contribute some food to the Super Bowl party on Sunday! GO PATS!!!

Almost flytime!

Three more "sleeps" and I fly to California to visit Kate, Mark and the Marvelous Mina girl!!! I can't wait! (Even though we all know how much I hate to fly......it will be easier this time, as I have my new iPod Nano all filled with awesome music to keep my mind off the sound of the engines!)

It's a Miracle!

Update on Nana's wrist: This morning I took her into Providence, to the Orthopedic doctor's office for a last check-up. They took an xray, and then the Doctor announced that her wrist is completely healed! Nana threw up both hands into the air, and yelled "IT'S A MIRACLE!!!" I thought the doctor was going to fall on the floor laughing, and then he threw up his hands and in the same tone of voice said, "YES! IT'S A MIRACLE" To which we all had a good chuckle, especially Nana.
She enjoyed her outing, although because she's lost her short term memory, she asked me 40 times...."Where are we going?" That's O.K., I have endless amounts of patience for her! Now, it's 12:30p.m. and in exactly 30 minutes, Grampa and I will leave the house to go visit Nana for two hours. She'll be tired today, that's for sure......and will be cat-naping the entire time we are there.
We all really love the new place she's in, and kinda wish we could have moved her there earlier......but that's water over the damn, as they used to say. I promise to take pictures soon....maybe even today!

Wonderful day off!

Well, as I expected, I had a wonderful day off. If there's one thing I do REALLY WELL, it's PLAY!!!! I won't write all the details, as I'm tired from my adventure. I left the house just before noon, and headed down to Charlestown, RI. Getting there took one hour from here. I found a great quilt shop that I had been reading about. The fabrics were beautiful, well priced and they had a nice staff. I bought four different fabrics that I had never seen before, including one with beautiful Dragonflies on it!
After leaving there, I crossed over route one, and went to Moonstone beach. Years ago, it used to be a nudist beach, so I've never been there. Today, I figured it was a pretty safe bet that at 20 degrees, I would not run into too many, fat, ugly, nude people.....and I was right, I didn't. I found some fantastic rocks! (Hense the name of the beach) The rocks are round, smooth, and beautiful. I filled all of my pockets, and hauled away as many as I could carry. I can't believe I forgot my camera when I left the house. (In too much of a hurry to get out to play, I guess!)
I stopped to walk abound Wickford village for a while. Then I went to see th movie Cloverfield. Cool movie.
Around 5p.m. I managed to find the new Whole Foods Market in Cranston. Nice Place!!! I bought some treats for myself for supper. I also bought some fancy tea, a music CD (Latin Lounge to put on my iPod) and some Rhode Island Soapworks hand and body lotion (Lavender Citrus). If you're reading this, and have never seen the RI Soapworks products, you should check out their website. At least I'm sure they have a website? Doesn't everyone??
My outing was over by 6:30p.m. however, my "day off" continues until late afternoon, tomorrow.......so I'll have to think of something else exciting to do tomorrow! God, this is very close to what normal people think of as a WEEKEND! I can't believe I haven't had a day OFF since December 19th, 2007.

Who knew it would be so hard.

Who knew it would be so hard to clean out a desk. Hum. I just finished sorting through all of the things in my Mother's long beloved desk. Some of the things, I swear, have been there since I was a kid. Events in my childhood were discussed at this desk. Letters were shared, jewelry was repaired, lectures were given....the desk has always been in my life. Years ago, my Mother insisted that my Father paint the desk. Up until then, it was a warm and beautiful brown wood. She claimed it looked "old", and the new paint would make it look new again. Basically, what it looked like was an old painted desk, but "no matter", as the old timers used to say.

Who knew it would be so hard to sort through old letters and cards from long lost cousins, Aunts and Uncles. Who knew finding prayer cards from my brother Don's funeral in every drawer would be so hard. Paper clips, religious cards, favorite rulers, address books, note papers, saved stamps.....all normal stuff for a desk.

Who knew it would be so hard to read my Mother's very last hand written words, scribbled on a piece of scrap paper, in shaky writing totally unlike my Mother's always beautiful penmanship. She wrote my father's name twice....then attempted to write down his home phone number, but got it wrong. Underneath that, she wrote "Message to be relayed. Arthur, pick me up tomorrow and bring money. $5000.00 is good."

This was the last thing my Mother was ever able to write. When she first moved to Epoch, she was constantly writing down my father's name and phone number and desperately trying to get staff members to call him, and have him come and get her. All she ever wanted, was to be with him. Who knew this would be so hard.

Well, my Mother can't write anymore. The best I can do, is drive my Father over to visit her every afternoon, and so for two hours out of every day, they are both happy and content, holding hands and kissing like young lovers. They have been in love for a little over 70 years, and it doesn't show any signs of letting up!

Who knew it would be so hard.....

Nervewracking two days

Well, things have settle down here a little bit. On Thursday we moved my Mother from an Assisted Living environment into a Nursing Home. It made her quite anxious, and confused for the day. Thursday night, I realized it had really upset me also, as I felt very nervous, anxious and worried for my Mom. Here she was, so small and frail now, in a building she didn't know, with a lot of strangers. It just kills me to drive away, and leave her there. Yesterday, when we went to visit, we were happy to see she had already started to settle in. I suppose, when you're "legally blind", you don't perceive the world the same way we do. For all she knows, she just moved down the hallway!
She's such an amazing patient. She smiles a lot, never complains and is tough. In some ways that's good, as the staff always immediately falls in love with her, but in other ways it's not good. If she needed something, I don't think she would ask for it. Hum.....I'll have to alert the staff about that. Anyway, she was in a good mood when Dad and I got there yesterday, which immediately made us feel better. The place is beautiful, and she has a wonderful room. Her room mate is a 98 yr. old woman with exactly the same medical problems as Mom...... Macular degeneration and hearing loss. Both are sadly isolating, and restricts their activity. Yesterday, when we got there, Mom was in the Activities room where they were all playing Bingo. Only problem was, Mom coudln't see any of the letters or numbers on her card. They also had special cards that didn't require chips, and Mom couldn't figure that out. (Little hidden, red, slidy things.......cool idea.)
The ride over and back isn't bad. It's 15 miles....mostly through the country side....a brief visit to RT 295, and then back onto woodsy roads. It could be bad if it was snowing badly, as it looks like places not too many snow plows travel.....but I'm not going to worry about that until I have to. If they predict snow, we'll take my Honda CRV, which can get through ANYTHING!
Well, that's the update for today. Congratulations Mike on your new promotion! Liz, hope all is going well in school.
Maureen, are you getting lonesome down there in Florida without your father?
Kate, you and Mina will be busy all week!
Time to go.

It's snowing!

Well, it's beautiful!!! It's the kind of heavy snow that sticks to everything. Don't you know, today is the day my batteries in my camera decided to go dead on me. I'm charging them and hope to get some pictures up on my Flickr site before it all melts. Our yard faces the woods. In the woods are some huge, old oak trees. I expect, any minute, to hear some crashing....as the brances are drooping at an alarming angle with the weight of it all! I can't wait for the excitement! Things do, afterall, get quite boring around here. I've set up my cam to face out the window, so all of you people in warmer climates can watch the snow "storm".
Maybe I really should go outside again, this time with my Minalta, and see what I can capture.

Fabrics arrive!

Yesterday, a box arrived from my daughter Kate, in CA. In it was some delicious fabrics to make sheets and a blanket for my granddaughter, Mina. I now have a problem! My daughter, Maureen, down in FL is patiently waiting for her new quilt....which I have hanging (in pieces) on a design wall. Hum....what to do....what to do! I know!!! I'll give equal sewing time to each project and see what happens! Although, making crib sheets is a quick deal compared to a real quilt. Sewing time, I can make a crib sheet in an hour. Sewing time for a quilt? That would be measured in weeks, not hours! Either way, sewing helps me to keep sane in prison! Sewing and my computer and iPod....better than drugs!

Weather today

For those of you who do not live in New England and are feeling sorry for US because it's WINTER.......worry no more. Yesterday the temperatures hit the mid 60's breaking all records! Today, at mid day, it's already 54 degrees, windy and overcast. Well, we'll take it.....even if the sun is not shining. Each day gets us one day closer to Spring. Don't get me wrong, I do happen to like snow! It's just that after a day like yesterday, I find myself yearning for May-type of weather we have here. Oh well, I have a wonderful idea! It's about time for me to visit someone in a warmer part of the country! Hum.....I'm thinking California!!! In 22 more days (but who's counting!!!).

First day blogging

Well, incase anyone is interrested.....the world turned just enough, and the sun set.....and my windows look perfectly clean now, even though I never did get out the Windex and cloth! That worked rather well. I have to remind myself, now, to not open the blinds all the way tomorrow!

My trip to the doctor's office was pleasant and uneventful.....just enough for him to re-write my prescription for my anti-depressants....which by the way, for you non-believers.....I really do need being locked up every day, seven days a week here at "my job". My brother has been so busy all month, that he's not been able, to cover for me, so I could have a day off. I think my last day off was when I visited Amy in CT, and we went to the casino and the spa. When was that, AMy? November? The beginning of December? Time gets all screwed up when you happen to work where you live. There's no real way to tell what day it is! Wednesdays are easy because it's trash day, and I can see my neighbors' trash cans lined up along the street! Too bad there can't be clues as to the other six days a week......maybe a series of colored flags. On second though, that might get way too confusing. I'll have to work on this one.

Lesson #2

Well, I've learned how to adjust the time, to my zone. I've also found all of the necessary settings area. I'm whipping right along, I'd say! Watch out, you kids, I'm catching up at an alarming rate!!! Once I get the technical parts arranged the way I want, I suppose it will be time to get down to the nitty-gritty of it all, and actually write something profound!.....or not.....Hopefully, in my thirty eight years of being a parent, I've taught my kids pretty much all they need to know from me, and all I'm capable of teaching them. That doesn't mean I won't have NEW things and opinions to share with them. It's interresting, now that my daughter and son-in-law have a new baby, that it's reminding me of all sorts of things that I experienced during those years, that I may not have shared with my kids. For the most part, they will experience their own set of joys, trials and traumas....which may or may not be similar to mine. In that case, they will learn all sorts of things that I never learned. These days, I think for the most part, parents are smarter and more educated than my generation of baby boomers. For example.....in the 1970's it was believed that babies weren't very smart.....they were "just babies, and didn't understand too much". Now, of course, we know that's not true and it amazes me at how much babies understand and observe about their world! Hum......
Well, while sitting here the world has rotated enough for the sunlight to shine on some incredibly dirty windows and I feel compelled (oh God, I wish it would pass!!!) to clean them! Eeeeks......so off I go to clean windows. Don't YOU have something better to do also?????