Lent, Day 32

Yesterday, The Preston Citizen was the talk of the town. It was so fun. I've had a hard time not talking about it. My poor family heard all about the April Fools joke we were going to play on the town.

There was a mixed review. One lady was so angry, she canceled her subscription. Another lady called & reamed Rhonda out because it was so tasteless. My aunt Luana didn't think it was funny either. One lady was crying at the Conoco because the county had gone bankrupt. Yet, people were laughing & loving it, too. I went into the Conoco today & saw that there was not a single copy of The Citizen on the counter. I asked where all the Citizens were & the clerk said they sold like hotcakes. There wasn't a single paper left when she went off shift yesterday afternoon. A lot of times Hidie has to pick up a whole stack of papers from the Conoco because they haven't sold.

So, here is a rundown of the April Fools joke we played. The Citizen was spelled Citzien. The top of the paper where it says "... bringing you the news since 1890," says "... bringing you the stuff of 1890." The top kicker says "DEQ closes Franklin County Landfill, page 16." The bottom kicker has a picture of the PHS cheer team's trophy saying they won the stunt contest at state & says, "PHS cheer team wins rumble competition, page 15." Then the Index has things like Illegals, page 16 (DEQ), instead of Legals & Hitchin' Post instead of Weddings, Boonies instead of Rural Route, Eatable Page instead of Recipe Corner. I don't have the paper in front of me, but there were other things like that & each of them reference a page that isn't even there, LOL.

The three main stories were county goes bankrupt with people driving to Soda Springs (45 miles north in Caribou County) to license cars & etc., Montpelier City (45 miles east in Bear Lake County) wouldn't answer any questions about whether they were in trouble or not instead of Preston. A band of wolves kills an entire herd of sheep, using a Bear Lake ranchers name. The final one was alligators found in Glendale Reservoir. The pictures were of the county commission chair, Richard Westerberg, standing on the front steps of the courthouse with a sign posted on the door that says, "Closed until further notice." He's standing there with dark shades & this little smirk on his face. Another picture has a picture of Glendale Reservoir with an alligator near the shore (which was put in with Photo Shop). The third picture is a picture of Robert Crosland, the PJHS science teacher, holding his alligator with a big grin on his face. Everyone knows that Cros teaches at PJHS, but the caption reads he is the PHS biology teacher :D

The stories are jumped to page 2 & at the end of each story is APRIL FOOLS! Page 3 is the REAL front page & everything is back to normal. Citizen is spelled right, the index has correct information AND pages. The kickers are correct too. It was a challenge to jump the real front page stories to other documents, so it took longer to get the jumps right.

Today, I went over so Mother could take a bath. I didn't get over there until 2. Don-Mike fed her such a big lunch, she had to sit & let it settle before she could take a bath. She didn't have her hearing aid in because she was going to take a bath. I asked her if it gave her out to take a bath & she said no. I said, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "What did he do?" I said, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "I heard you. What did he do?" I'm a little frustrated by now. I went up to her & said distinctly in her ear, "Bathing gives me out." She said, "Oh, bathing." I said, "Yes, what did you think I said?" She said, "Javen gives you out." I laughed & laughed over that. "Javen? I haven't seen Javen for a long time." Javen is our little neighbor boy. He's 4 & is on the autistic spectrum, so yes, he could give me out. But it's winter & I haven't seen him for a long time. I did watch him & his big sister come running out the other morning & clean off their aunt's car before school. Javen was cleaning the grill & the head lights & Burkley was brushing off the windshield. It reminded me of when my kids were little & Nick wouldn't ride the bus.

Anyway, Mother told me to go over to her house & take a shower. That gives me out too. I just hope that once the femara is out of my system, bathing won't be so tiring.

Luana let Mother borrow a toilet riser & Mother's been complaining about how the bathroom stinks. So, while she was in the tub, I decided I'd clean the toilet. I knew I wouldn't be able to clean the whole thing because I'd get tired. But I thought I'd see how far I could get. I took the riser off & went out to the laundry room & got some Borax, came back dumped some in & cleaned the toilet. I'd taken my water pill late & the shower running was causing some discomfort. I thought I'd use the bathroom while the shower curtain was shut & Mother wouldn't know. Well, I forgot to put the toilet seat down & I fell in the toilet & screamed. It almost gave Mother a heart attack, LOL. She's yelling, "What's the matter?" So, there I sit with my feet in the air, my butt in the toilet & I ripped open the shower curtain & said, "Nothing! I fell in the toilet." She said, "How are you going to get out?" I said, "I'm going to stand up." LOL

We had a fun time, which was better than leaving her in tears like I did last night. She was upset over her new CPAP mask. She spent about a half hour working with it.

I asked how it went last night & she said she got a tooth ache from the mask being so tight. I laughed & said that must be why I've had a tooth ache the last few weeks. My CPAP mask is too tight. The head gear is stretched out so much, I just keep tightening it. It's hard to get it on at night. Actually, that is something that can happen, but I didn't know it until I read it in the literature yesterday when I was trying to adjust Mother's new mask. The new mask just fits over her nose, which is what she's been wanting all along. She also said she couldn't keep her mouth shut & it was hard to breathe in the mask. I said that was why she had the other mask, to go over her mouth.

She asked how you're supposed to keep your mouth shut. I said I didn't know, I'd done it for 10 years, until the last few months before I got the new CPAP machine & the pressure was too high. For over 9 years the pressure has been set at 11, but I was having problems with it & so the doctor ordered a new sleep study & they found that I only need the pressure set at 8. Before the change, I'd rip the mask off because the pressure was too high. Other times the CPAP machine would stop & start & stop & start or just stop all together.

Last night Don made it to bed at 11:30 & I, of course, didn't. I woke up at 10 this morning, to see someone walk through the hall. I called out, "Who is that?" Eddie came back & said, "Me." He didn't have service today & so he got to come spend the day.