Paying my last respects

I am waiting up for 2 of our cats to come in from playing night games, yawn. Little buggers.

I probably could read another chapter of Alma while I'm waiting. This is the same place I got to the last time I attempted reading The Book of Mormon in 100 days. Lent is over, meaning the push to successfully complete the challenge of celebrating Lent is over. It was especially important to me after I failed so dismally last year.

Sam just came in, without a mouse. Now for Marsha.

Don, Mother & I went to the mortuary last night for Gwen Hulse Wheeler Cottle Fish's viewing. The new mortuary is SOOO nice. Today I took Mother to the funeral at our church. We could only stay for part of it because we didn't think to reschedule Mother's hair appt. But Mother was there for the life sketch, which Edna & FayeLynn gave. They stood together & talked in turn. It was really well-done. I wonder if they practiced. They mentioned Mother. Five of her 10 grandchildren gave "Memories of Grandma." Each of her 4 children were represented by one of their grown kids & both of FayeLynn's daughters spoke. It was a stretch for most of them, as her grandchildren are not active in the church. Derick, one of her grandsons, said, "Public speaking is not one of my strong points." He did very well. Public speaking is not a strong point for a lot of people who are active in the church. Most of us do get a chance to practice though.

I took Mother to her hair appt & went back to the funeral in time for the ending of the bishop's remarks, Robert Child sang "That Wonderful Mother of Mine," accompanied by his wife, Karen, who is also our (mine & Mother's) visiting teacher. The benediction was given by a stepson, Scott Fish. I went out to the cemetery. Gwen was buried in Dayton, next to her first husband Fay. After I picked up Mother, we ate at the Subway & then I took her back down to the church for the family luncheon so she could visit with Gwen's sister Venda.

It is so strange to look out the window & see Gwen's house sitting dark. It's strange to drive by during the day & see the drapes pulled. In the funeral today they said Wheelers moved into that house in 1953. I was just small. The house burned in the mid-'50s & Gwen & the kids lived in Glendale while Fay rebuilt their house. For virtually all of my life, Gwen has only lived 3 houses up the street.

Well, Marsha is in, so I'm off to bed.

Labor Day Weekend

It's amazing that September is here, with the last long weekend of the summer. I have to admit fall is my favorite time of year, now that I no longer have to fight with school. I always dreaded fall as a kid in school & as my kids were in school. But I've always loved the warm, mellow days, beautiful leaves & cool evenings of autumn. You don't have to deal with the mud & cold days in the spring, or the hot, muggy days of summer, or the bitter cold & snow of winter.
Don & Nick have some online friends visiting, Melva & Ron Terry from Mississippi, & Gordon & Colin from Washington State. The Terrys are here for their son Kyle's wedding. Kyle is marrying a girl from Cache Valley on Monday. One of her parents, father I think, lives in Miss & her mom here. We met Kyle & Ashley earlier in the year.

We met them last night at Golden Corral for dinner. There were 10 people there, Ron, Melva, Kyle & Ashley, Ron's mother Trish & grandmother Wilma, Gordon & Colin, Matt (Ron's brother) & John, besides the 4 of us. Don, Nick & Eddie knew the majority of the people there from Runescape, an online game. They've known each other for several years. It was fun as they were introducing themselves by their user names. It confused me no end though as Don calls them by their given name or their user name, rarely interchanging them. They were talking about other friends that weren't there, so I had to ask for a user name, when the given name didn't mean anything to me.

It was fun. I've never seen Nick so animated with total "strangers." He was laughing & talking. It wasn't the usual monotone. They were talking Runescape though.

After dinner, we went out to their house. Check this link out, Logan vacation house rental. Don & I were amazed. It sleeps 16 & there must have been 10 people there already. I don't know if they saved any money over a hotel by the time they paid the deposit & cleaning fee besides the nightly fee, but it was sure nice.

Today, they came up to see the addition to the house, Nick's project car & the Mormon Pioneer Relic Hall in Franklin, the oldest permanent settlement in Idaho. Gordon & Colin from Washington State were on their way home as Colin has to be back in school Tuesday. He was homeschooled & now is in high school. Like Nick was.

Tomorrow there is a potluck rehearsal dinner in Hyrum that we're invited to. Mother's not going, doesn't sound like Don-Mike or Nick are going either, sigh. Tomorrow is Lasagna Sunday, but we didn't prepare for it. I guess if we don't go, we'll have to have zucchini dressing as that's the dish I was taking.

Monday is the wedding. On top of that, Mother is recovering from an acute asthma attack that took us to the Logan Hospital ER Thursday night. Since it's a holiday weekend, I worked yesterday, Friday. I should have finished the paper today, but I hit the floor a running this morning, & finally crashed at 4. I did not make it in to work. I've still got tomorrow & Monday though. We go to press Tuesday, but have Monday off.

At 6 I got up, went over to Mother's to give her another inhaler treatment, fixed her supper (nuked a TV dinner), & made sure she had the antibiotic, but not the steroids. I also went to the grocery store to buy more TV dinners & stuff for my covered dish for the potluck tomorrow & supper tonight. I took Mother's groceries to her, came home & fixed supper.

I stayed up until 3 last night waiting for Sam, our yellow tom cat, to come in. And so even though I had a 2 hour nap, I'm ready for bed tonight.

Lent, Day 2

Ok, last night I turned the computer off at 11:30. The idea is to be in bed by 11:30, not start getting ready for bed at 11:30. I turned off the light & crawled into bed at 11:50. I had to take my meds, get my pajamas on.

I had to FIND the bed before I could crawl into it. Remember my Lent project is 2-pronged. I will declutter, give up junk, AND get to bed earlier, give up late nights. In this first part of my project, cleaning & decluttering the end of the bed is supposed to help me get to bed easier.

Yesterday morning I pulled out a box & put it on the bed. I didn't do much with it, & then needed to get it off the bed so we could go to bed. As I put the box back, I took the clothes that I had found beneath it & put them in the dirty clothes. They were clean when they were tossed there, but who knows how long they've been there & whether cats have laid on them or spiders have crawled in them. They were on the floor, therefore they are dirty.

This morning, I pulled the same box back on the bed, only this time I emptied it. I'm almost afraid to tell you how long I think it's been there. The box has fancy embroidered towels from Don's mother's house. She died in August of 2007.

This is the fanciest, but they all have some sort of crocheting on them. It has crocheting on the bottom of the towel & that is a wash cloth tucked in the basket. It also has some of her plastic canvas things from her front room, still with pens & stuff in one of them that hasn't been looked at or cleaned out.

FlyLady says you can't organize clutter, but I think you can at least give it a home. I have a lot of homeless stuff. Some of that stuff needs to find a home in the landfill, but not all of it. And you need to know what you have before you can find a home for it.

So, I got off the computer at 11 tonight, but when I went in to clean off the end of the bed again, this is what I found. Sammy had found the empty box & was giving himself a bath.

Two of the girls, Jae & Marsha, were on the bed. Jae still sleeping & Marsha had sat up to see what was going on.

So, it is now 11:20, but I'll finish this entry & try again. This morning, I didn't wake up until 9:30 & finally crawled out of bed at 10. I have to work tomorrow, so I hope I'm up before then. I have to be to work by 9.

Dreaded double post

I updated Mother's CaringBridge journal last night, so I didn't make an entry here. If you read both, it probably sounds like an echo. I do add more stuff here. I've tried to keep the Caring Bridge journal more about Mother's health & welfare, even though the rest of us creep in there once in a while.

Instacare called Mother yesterday with the results of the chest x-ray. Don-Mike was home & so he answered the phone for her. She doesn't answer the phone if she doesn't recognize the ring. She has 2 cracked ribs. Nothing they can do, but they reminded her to take deep breaths. Shallow breathing can cause pneumonia. But deep breathing hurts when your ribs are sore. If she starts coughing, she is to check back with them ASAP.

At The Preston Citizen we get weekly tips from a place called Dollar Stretchers. We use them once in a while as 'fillers.' Someplace that nothing else will fit. I wish I had remembered this tip. Put 1 cup rubbing alcohol & 2 cups of water in a quart zip loc bag, then bag that in another quart zip loc bag & freeze it. It freezes to a slushy consistency & then can be used on bruises & contusions. I could have sure used that Saturday night for Mother. I've always used a bag of frozen peas, but Mother didn't have any frozen veggies in her freezer.

I used that tip Monday on the social page for Jan. 14. I went right over to Mother's after work on Monday & did it. I checked it Tuesday on my out the door to DUP. It is slushy & will make a perfect ice bag.

Mother has been sleeping in the recliner in the living room because it hurts too much to lay down & have to get up to go to the bathroom. I dressed her leg again tonight & it is still oozing blood. I forgot to get the neosporin & she needs more gauze pads. I had been to the grocery store & had forgotten. But I didn't have a list. Lists are mandatory for me, sigh.

Don-Mike took Mother & I to Ogden today. I almost fell asleep going to Richmond, 14 miles south, yesterday taking Prissy to the vet. I made it to Franklin (about a third of the way to Richmond) & started nodding off. I should've stopped at La Tienda in Franklin & got a soda, but I didn't want to be late to the vet.

I did stop at La Tienda on the way back, got my iPod working, stuck the ear bud in my ear & cranked the volume up as high as it would go. Prissy cried all the way down & back. Tomorrow I get to take Sammy to the vet. I hope I can stay awake. I'll get a drink & use the iPod down AND back.

Anyway, today I slept most of the way down to Ogden & back. I turned off my hearing aid so I couldn't hear the music. Talking about having the volume cranked up. Don-Mike loves his new Chocolate-3 phone. That's what we were listening to, through the radio.

Mother's left hearing aid is not working. Since it is still under warranty, Dr. Christensen will send it back to the factory. Mother had lots of wax build up in both ears. I needed new tubing for my hearing aid. I sweat profusely & even though I have a dryer to put my hearing aids in at night to dry them out, the tubing still hardens fairly fast.

Rockets red glare

Francis Scott Key penned the national anthem in the "rockets red glare," as the battle raged around him. I am typing this as Don-Mike & Nick are yelling at each other. The battle is truly raging around me. I'm glad Mother is not here. This truly upsets her. I have my hearing aid turned off. I can still hear the raging. I am grateful I am deaf in one ear. It's times like this I wish I were deafer than I am.

Nick's zodiac sign is Taurus, the sign of the bull. He is bull-headed & right now he is a raging bull, LOL. Trying for lightheartedness. Don-Mike is Cancer, the twins or as the website I'm giving you the link for says, the crab. There is definitely 2 sides to this young man.

I took Mother to Instacare today after DUP. It was really funny. The medical assistant that took us back to the triage room looked SO familiar. I kept staring. I apologized & said that she looked so much like my cousin's daughter. She laughed & said, "That's because I am." It was Krystal, Jenni's oldest daughter, Luana's granddaughter. After Krystal left the room, Mother bemoaned the fact that she can't see. She asked me who she looked like, I said she looked just like her mother, even down to the dimples in her cheeks. Except she has dark brown hair & her mother is blonde.

They were all so nice there. The doctor was this cute little girl. I know, if she's a doctor, she's not a little girl. But such a sweetheart & petite. I said to Mother, I'd certainly go to her if she had her own practice.

Mother has been concerned that the lump on her thigh is a blood clot. Her leg is bruised all the way around her thigh & down into her calf today. The big lump is still there. So, I asked the doctor. She said no, it was a surface lump & where Mother is on coumadin, it wasn't likely to be a blood clot. I said that Mother's INR level has gotten so low that sometimes she's had TIA's, little strokes. They took Mother's protime & did some blood work. Her INR was high, 3.8; her hemoglobin was low because of all the blood she lost. They were concerned because Mother's protime was so high. I said it wasn't that high. Therapeutic level for Mother is between 2.5 & 3.5.

The doctor told me I should've taken her to the ER & had her leg stitched. I told her that I didn't take her to the ER because Mother doesn't like the doctor's up here. Her skin is so fragile that stitches won't stay in. I guess they could have used butterfly bandages, but I didn't think they'd believe me.

Anyway, they took x-rays of her chest. First time I had seen a chest x-ray of Mother. You could certainly see the wires they'd wired her chest shut with after the open heart surgery & the pacemaker & it's wires.

Instacare is in the same building as Dr. Carlson, Mother's primary care doctor. The Instacare doctor walked across the foyer & talked to Dr. C about her protime level & hemoglobin. He said that her cardiologist follows her protime. Dr. Larkin, I-care doc, said to have the INR rechecked Monday. We'll have it done Tuesday because that is the day that Mother has the CPAP followup with Dr. C. We have her INR checked before we go to Dr. C.

Nick's been on one all day & Don didn't make things any better when he authorized Don-Mike to be on the Verizon account & not Nick. grrrrrrrr.

I woke up late & prolly wouldn't have woke up when I did, if Nick had not awakened me. He asked me what time I needed to be to work. I said I needed to be there at 9. He said that it was 9. I jumped up, grabbed my clothes & was almost dressed when the editor of the newspaper called to see where I was. I told him as soon as I put my pants on & took my meds I'd be there. Then my supervisor wanted to know what my problem was. She's already warned me that it doesn't matter how long I've been there, I can be replaced, sigh. Well, I have news for her, when they replace me, they'll have to pay the new person more than I'm making! The last 2 people, that I know of, make more an hour than I do. The next time the government raises minimum wage, I'll finally get a raise. I mentioned that to the business manager & she said, "We'll see." I said, "No! I'll see. The next raise will make minimum wage more than I make an hour." She said, "Oh."

Then Don was huffy when I mentioned that the dog hadn't been fed. I told him that I had not done my weekly hard drive back up at work because I would have been later than I was picking Mother up for DUP. We go to lunch on DUP day, because the new DUP captain has ruled that there will be no lunches at meetings, only refreshments. And, of course, refreshments always means sugar. So, next month, when it's our turn, mine & Mother's, to have DUP at Mother's house, we will serve tomato soup in mugs & little triangle grilled cheese sandwiches, LOL.

Tuesday is not a day that Mother gets a home-delivered meal. And, like this morning, I'm usually running late & don't have anything to eat in the morning.

Right after DUP I'd taken Mother to Instacare, came home & taken long enough to heat Mother's supper up. I stopped at the grocery store & came home. Don got his outdoor stuff on & I told him to wait, I'd walk down with him. We walked out of the garage & I couldn't see because it was so dark. I mentioned a flashlight & he said he was ok. I said I wasn't. He huffily told me to go back & get a flashlight. I told him I'd be glad to when I dug myself out of the snowbank I'd fallen into.

Then, Nick decided he didn't like the soup I'd made tonight. I gave him 3 options that he could fix himself. Don-Mike told him there was garlic bread. I'd cut generous hunks of garlic bread - 2 soft inner pieces - which is what Don-Mike & Nick like.

So, I'd been running all day. I was grateful Don watered & fed the dog. He's done that for me the last 2 days. Tomorrow, I'll make a conscious effort to feed Mufasa earlier in the day, before the vet visit. Tomorrow is a vet appt for Prissy. If I had another cat carrier, I'd be able to take Sammy with & save an office visit. He has been in a fight & has a bad eye. I'll try for Friday afternoon for Sam.