Disneyland

Well, my aunts, Luana & Onda, don't think it's a wise idea to take Mother with us on such a long trip. Luana told me that Mother doesn't want to go. Today the cardiologist, Dr. Otrusinik, voted with Luana & Onda.

I posted this as my status on Facebook tonight:

Now Mother's cardiologist says don't take her on such a long road trip. (Driving to Disneyland for the weekend.) I have no brothers or sisters to take care of her while I'm gone & I can't be in two places at once. Pray for us.

Mother & I discussed it at lunch after the echocardiogram & the pace maker check.  Dr. Otrusinik was appalled that we were even thinking about taking her. I suggested that perhaps we could call Dr. Broadbent & have the surgery to remove the squamous cell cancer lump from her arm postponed for a week. Mother didn't answer me.

Luana had said she'd check on Mother every day. But I don't want to leave her here alone & I want to go. So, I guess I'm being selfish.

Tonight when we got home & I was packing for Mother, it was time to take her meds & I wanted to put her meds in the bag so they wouldn't be forgotten. I asked her what we were going to do with the coumadin. She said, "Aren't you going to call & cancel the surgery?" I THOUGHT, "Oh, my h-e double toothpicks!!! Why didn't you say so at lunch? I could've called & cancelled then. Now, it's 6 o'clock & the office is CLOSED!!!" Instead, I calmly said, "Yes. I'll do that tomorrow." So, she decided not to take any coumadin tonight.

Last night we were in the ER until after midnight with a bloody nose & her INR level was only at 2.3 (low for her). Her nose oozed blood all day. One of the reasons Dr. Otrusinik thought we were being foolish. Besides the fact that Mother needs to be off the coumadin for 7 days before the surgery. No coumadin, sitting for 12 hours, she could throw a blood clot & die. He did suggest that if we do take her, which he strongly disapproved of, we stop every 2 hours & move around for a minimum, MINIMUM, of 5 minutes. Don-Mikel is going to love that.

I don't know if we're leaving at 3 or 2:30, about 5 hours from now. I told Mother not to get undressed & to sit in the chair until it's time to go. I think I'll do the same thing. Just gotta go pack. I paid a couple of bills & have got to grab the checkbook & we'll be good to go.

I'm feeling really discouraged. Don & Don-Mike gave Mother a (priesthood) blessing this morning, so I feel like it will be ok, but I told Don to take the consecrated oil, just in case we needed it. I remember Daddy would always take the consecrated oil when we went on vacation. I even have it on my list.

Went to put some more clothes in my suitcase & noticed 2 cats on the bed. Don went in the bedroom & soon came out asking me to come look at something. There was Jae in his suitcase. I took a picture with my cell phone.

I heard Don say he is on his way to bed, guess I'd better go get my stuff off the bed & finish packing.

A quick note

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted a blog entry. I've been depressed. Money is an issue & it seems like I'm being pushed into spending money on Disneyland that we don't have. Our sweet Don-Mike is reaching deep into his pocket & paying the majority of it. The Lord is helping with this venture too, by sending money & help from unexpected sources :)

On another note, this is the main reason I wanted to make an entry tonight:

It is working! With collective efforts, PetitionToCureSMA.com is growing -- and quickly. In less than a week it has blown past 77,000 supporters! This is awesome! And, as this petition grows it is not only sending a strong message to Congress, it is raising awareness of SMA. And knowledge brings change!

A blog I follow, Gwendolyn Strong, is about a little girl with SMA. She has turned 2, something most children with SMA do not do. I cannot believe I have not blogged about her before.

Recipe Corner blunder

So, I failed to say what the 4th recipe was supposed to be in the Recipe Corner. It was Turkey and Cranberry Salad. Now, it looked really good & I was quite intrigued with it. If there's room I'll make a correction this coming week & run it. Of course, no one caught it, so I may just let it go. If we run a correction, we will draw attention to the fact that a mistake was made.

I spent a couple of hours tonight researching & doing an itinerary for our Disneyland trip for the week of Thanksgiving . Don-Mike still thinks a Disneyland package is the way to go. I didn't even take that into consideration. That's $1,500 without gas, groceries & lodging to & from!!!!! Maybe Mother & I will stay home.

Faux pas

Oops, I made a faux pas (foe paw) in The Citizen this week.

Faux (pronounced /ˈfoʊ/, like "foe") is a French word for false or fake. It is often used in English phrases such as faux pearls, and faux news.
~ Wikipedia

I posted this on Facebook last night:

Ok Preston residents, tell me what glaring mistake you find in The Preston Citizen tomorrow when it comes in the mail. I was SOOOOO embarrassed. I didn't catch it until I was archiving.

To which Pat Hansen replied:

They probably won't even notice ya think? That obvious? I'd proably miss you.

Kristy Nelson replied:

Well, now I'm going to have to read it all over again.

Janelle Bartlomé asked:

Is it Jay Leno worthy? If so you could be famous. One time the company I worked for (American Stores- private label department) made a label for Parmesan Cheeese. The first person to catch it was the person putting the cheese into the canister.

To which I replied:

No, Janelle, it isn't Leno worthy, but our front page was in September. It was SOOOOOO good. I hope someone did send that one to Leno. The front page top story was that H1N1 had hit Franklin County. Second story was the hospital is soo old that you can't get proper care there. Third story was that the Preston Cemetery is now full & the land owners around the cemetery won't sell. So, you get sick, you can't get health care & when you die, you can't be buried in the cemetery because they are out of room, LOL.

Kristy, it's like Reiman publications where they hide a needle or a carrot, only this is much more blatant. It went through the other copy editor, BOTH editors (& the pages were laying side by side when they saw them) & through the photo editor.

Rod consoled me that no one would even notice when I went flying into his office with the pages. He didn't notice it even then. I had to point it out & read it to him, LOL

Kristy answered:

Now I'm really gonna have to look again!

 To which I replied:

Pat that last paragraph was in answer to your post. Kristy, here's a hint, it's a jump.

Denise Ericksen commented:

RaNae, you make me laugh!!!! And that is a good thing.

I didn't reply to Denise. What could I say??

But Pat replied to my reference to the Sept. 23rd issue's  front page with:

This really is one of the funniest things I've heard, oh my!! It went through the editors etc.. lol---how ironic though. H1N1-death and no place to be buried? I have a gallows sense of humor (blame nursing)...

I replied:

Me too, Pat. The only thing I can say in my own defense is that I was having gall bladder surgery that day.

The kicker this week is: "Mr. PHS crowned at Saturday's faux pageant." I told the editors to read the kicker carefully. I wanted their opinion.

One of them said, "fox pageant?" You spelled fox wrong. I said it's pronouced "foe" and means fake. His answer? "Sure, leave it."

High school senior boys do a spoof on a beauty pageant & are judged in talent, poise & 3 other things.

The original mistake was in the Recipe Corner. Jean Carter had taken FOUR recipes from an online site that supplies newspapers with filler articles. She has had a really hard time getting "real" people to interview & share their recipes. It's really a shame, because that is one of my favorite columns in the whole paper. We usually only have 3 recipes. There is really only room for 3 recipes on the social page, page 5, so I was going to have to jump a recipe.

There was one recipe that was going to be a real bugger to set & I saved it for page 7. I knew I could spread that baby out if I had to on that page. I worked really hard on it, too. Not as hard as I thought I would have to, for which I thanked the Lord fervently. Tuesday mornings are real adrenalin rushes. Some are more so than others.

We made it just a few minutes past our deadline & I took a few minutes to unwind. I started cleaning up the work for this week, getting ready for next week. Filing proof pages & paper copy, moving documents & photos from the working folder into a file to be archived on CD, emptying the email inbox & trash.

This week I needed to do tear sheets for FamilyFeatures, the online site that we had used the recipes from. I printed out those 2 pages & there it was, as big as life!!! Two separate recipes for Mexi-Meatball Kabobs. It was too late to do anything. The paper was on the press clear across town in a totally different facility. But, as Rod said, no one's gonna notice. And I really don't think anyone will. They are on 2 separate pages.

I had a busy day today. Don-Mike woke me up at 20 to 12 & I have to be to church at 12. I don't know what Don was doing, but I'm sure glad Don-Mike took it upon himself to wake me up. I made it to church by noon, but didn't have much chance to do anything except get dressed & comb my hair. Good thing I have short hair.We don't have a shower, so it's not like I could jump in & out of the shower & tame my hair.

After church, I came in, sent a picture to work that I had forgotten to include in an earlier email. I have to use our internet connection at home sometimes to get stuff. The computers at work are too antiquated to access some internet sites, especially the one we get the recipes from. Changed my clothes & ran to work.

There was more work than I had expected, so I had to leave & run over to Mother's to cook supper. Don & I cleaned up after supper & I ran back to work. Then when I got home Don-Mike was on his computer, I use his computer, so I was late getting on..

Neanderthals

Nick has been very, very frustrated & consequently the rest of us have been too. His verbal communication skills are very compromised. I don't know if it's his meds, or not. He's been on topamax for years, so why should the short term memory become so bad??? Yet, he had been on depakote for quite a while & he was taken off because he developed toxicity to it.

A lady in the ward gave me the name of a psychiatrist in Pocatello that she goes to. I keep forgetting to call to see if he takes Idaho Medicaid. I'd like to get Nick off topamax.

Last night Don ended up sitting in the car, just to get away from Nick. This morning when Don-Mike came in, I could hear he was not his normal cheerful self. Soon Nick was having a meltdown & called Don-Mike a neanderthal. Don-Mike said thank you, he took that as a compliment. Not all of us could be as smart as Nick. That set Nick off even more & called us all neanderthals. Don-Mike commented that he doesn't even like to come over here anymore. I told him that I don't like to come home either. It's become a prison. Mother & Don-Mike are fortunate not to have to live with Nick all the time.

I told Don that maybe I should change my user name to Neanderthal Mom. I used to have a modicum of intelligence, but now I discover I don't even have that.

Nick's psychosocial rehabilitation plan expired in September, I think. Medicaid is changing the goals for PSR, grrr. Yesterday, Karen Talbot from Priestley Mental Health came by & we spent an hour and a half revamping his plan. I sure wish we still had Bill Salerno on board as Nick's counselor. Since the PSR plan expired, we haven't had that service for about 6 weeks. Sure hope it kicks in again SOON.

Typing psychiatrist made me think of the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. How horrifying it is that this would happen on a US Army base, but even more horrifying that it was a psychiatrist that perpetrated it.

To do list

I only have 2 items left on my to do list. But ... did a whole bunch of other stuff, took Mother for her hair appt., got eggs at the egg farm ... I came out to Mother swatting a fly inside the car. She never did get it. The flies are still thick as thieves there at the egg farm.

I used eggs in my supper tonight, Toffee Apple French Toast. It was really good tonight, even though I didn't get the toffee bits - too expensive. We like it better than Cinnamon Apple German Pancakes. It's more filling too.

I got Mother's coumadin & got it in her med box. I just remembered I didn't get any XS Tylenol, grrr. It's too late now.

Well, one more bill to pay & I'm off to bed.

Voting results

Jessi had to go in last night & finish up the newspaper so that the voting results would be in today's paper. I hope she didn't have to drag Keziah out too late.

Only one of the councilmen that I voted for got in, the other one didn't. The hospital bond failed too, darn!!! Well, I at least have the right to complain now, LOL.

How'd I do on my To Do list?? Not too good. Only one more item ticked off, sigh. Mother's protime/INR level was "perfect" today, 3.0.

The focus this month on Flylady is to plan your menus. I started doing this in 1991 or 1992 & have kept up with it for most of the last 17 or 18 years. Some months I'm not as diligent as I should be, but Don does his a month at a time too. He is very diligent.

When we lived in Grace (1991-93), I dsicovered a book called "Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise." This book is where Flylady originated from.

I voted

 I voted today. We'll see what the verdict is tomorrow. Mother even got out to vote. Everyone but Nick did.

They have the voters split up by alphabet. Mother voted first. Then I went to the table for the first of the alphabet. I told them my name & spelled Bartlomé & specifically said, without an h. A lady came over & said no, that's B-a-r-t-H-l-o-m-e. So, they find Barthlome with an h. They're reading down through the list, JoAnn, Layne, Randy ... you're not here. I said, no that's Barthlome with an h. I don't have an h in my name. "Well, that's different," she snipped at me. It's like Nick said, I should have said to her, "I know how to spell my own name." Anyway, I bent over to sign my name & said, "Well, the Barthlomes over here paid to have the h put back in their name. We didn't." I even told her that I spelled Mikel & Nickolas without an h too. So, I voted for the city councilmen, but was still a little miffed.

Next, we had to go to another table & vote on the hospital bond. Again, two different election judges. One for the middle of the alphabet, Monson, & one for the beginning of the alphabet. Camille Saxton, a member of our ward & former Relief Society president, was the election judge for the first of the alphabet. She had no trouble finding me.

Don-Mikel called to see where we voted & I told him the Robinson Bldg. I called him back & said that when he voted for the city councilmen, he was going to have to spell his name, & tell the election judge there is no h, because she is so dumb. Don met Don-Mike at the Robinson Bldg. He said Don-Mike went first, said his name & said, Bartlomé without an H. Don said they flipped right to it & he & Don-Mike had no trouble. I told Don I was the pioneer then, I broke the ground for them.

I am so tired & have had a sore throat all day. I woke up with it. I thought it would go away like it usually does. I always wake up with a dry, dry throat. I sleep with my mouth open. That's why the CPAP mask is a full face mask, so that even though I sleep with my mouth open, the air pressure still keeps my throat open so I can breathe.

Did I, or did I not, do what was on my to do list for the day.

• I forgot to pay McKenzie Law Office, due Friday, Oct. 30.
  
• I forgot to pick up Nick's meds at the pharmacy Done & no co-pay for my pills!! W00t W00t
  
• Mother needs omeprazole
• I HAVE to send the Verizon rebate. I NEED that $50.
• I HAVE to pay the storage shed company. Today, I took Don-Mike's $50 & part of Nick's rent & got 2 money orders. I will pay storage tomorrow. I also wrote out a check for Mother's storage payment.
  
• Pampered Chef - I lost the order & now people are wondering where the stuff they ordered is. I'm wondering where the orders AND THE CHECKS are, sigh.

This was not on my list, but I also wrote out checks for Mother's rent & home-delivered meals, took her retirement checks to the bank & deposited them.I also took the check to the Community Center & put it through the mail slot. That saved her a 45¢ stamp

I am so tired. I waited for Don-Mike to come home & now I'm off to bed. I took my potassium pills this afternoon at work. Choked on them, as usual, even though I broke them in half. I guess trying to stuff 6 fairly large pills in my mouth at once doesn't work, sigh.

Daylight Savings ends

Changing the time back is supposed to help, isn't it?? I was able to get up without much problem, but I'm soooo tired. It was another 12 hour day today & I still have 10 pages to do tomorrow.

Great article on stress today. I printed it out & brought it home. I hope I can file it before I lose it.

• I forgot to pay McKenzie Law Office, due Friday, Oct. 30.
  
• I forgot to pick up Nick's meds at the pharmacy
• Mother needs omeprazole
• I HAVE to send the Verizon rebate. I NEED that $50.
• I HAVE to pay the storage shed company. Maybe I'll take the payment to their office in Logan tomorrow. I forgot until Don-Mike wanted to know if he could give me cash or a check. Last month he ended up with his storage unit double locked because they didn't credit his account. Grrrr. Mother ended up with double locking.
• Pampered Chef - I lost the order & now people are wondering where the stuff they ordered is. I'm wondering where the orders AND THE CHECKS are, sigh.

Stress!!!!

Happy Halloween

I think it's been over a year since I started blogging. It was a year ago today that Lynette brought Mufasa up to stay for a "little while." I'm thankful that Kents are taking care of him. I fell almost every day last winter going down to feed him. Shari's dad made him a nice cinderblock dog house. We all feel sorry that he can't get out & run, but ... he is uncontrollable & will run out into the highway.

On another note, even though I have cut down drastically on forwards, I find that I am still insufferable in inviting people to join causes & sending stuff on Facebook. "I just can't join everything you send." Well, I don't try to join everything everybody sends me, nor do I open every forward. I delete them or block them. I don't tell the person or people either, although there are a few times I have felt like saying something. President Peel told me as a missionary that I needed to have a gracious heart. And I have tried for many years to follow that advice. If asked directly, I will say something like, "I didn't open that." or "I blocked that." or "I didn't see that."

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of they friends or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

~ John Donne

Donne puts forth the idea that people are not isolated from one another. Nice thought & beautiful words. I certainly feel like an island. I feel like a pariah, isolated - always doing something wrong.

In one of Arlene Eakle's classes at the Family History Expo retreat that I got to attend this week, she talked about how some people only will associate with people of their own religion, family or neighborhood. She was talking about censuses. She said people are not alone. Ha!!!

"So, don't send me any forwards, don't send me anything you think I might be interested in because I'm not interested in anything except what I am interested in." is the message I feel I have been given.

Well, because I played hooky from work this week, I have to pay the piper & work tomorrow. I hope there's not a lot of work to do & that it doesn't take forever. I took Mother to the doctor on Friday, Oct. 16, & worked Saturday & Sunday. I worked SIX hours that Sunday, Oct. 18, until 10:30 p.m. So, I need to go to bed.