Annual sibling party

Today was the Porter Siblings Party. It was Luana's turn to host it this year. Bernard & Maxine drove their van & brought Keith, Onda & Larry. Madge wasn't able to come because she hurt the last 2 disks in her back. Larry said the doctor said it would take 2-3 weeks for it to heal. Dorin & Lucy weren't there either. Dorin isn't well enough. Luana drove up Cub River & brought Vaudis down for the party. Mother & I were there.

After we ate, Luana called up to Dorin & Lucy's, but no one answered. They decided to take a couple of plates of food up anyway. Mother didn't feel like going, so I don't know if they found anyone home or not.

We were taking pictures & I didn't get very many again this year. I was sitting visiting with Mother & snapped this picture with my cell phone. I told Bernard to close his eyes. Now I look at it, I don't think Larry was really asleep either, LOL. I KNOW Keith & Jim are.

Mother & I got over to her place after the party & I was so tired, I laid down & slept for 3 hours. Mother took a little cat nap. She was really tired too. The sisters had gone over to her house & walked her over. I had planned on getting her in the car & driving her over. The sisters had suggested it too, but she said it was harder to get in & out of a car than it was to walk. She was gasping for air so badly by the time they got her to Luana's she couldn't speak. They were panicking. They told me to run over to Mother's & get her inhaler. Maxine took off at a run. Now, I can't run, I'm too old & stiff, but Maxine is 8 years older & obviously in much better shape than I am. Maybe I'd better start jogging, LOL. We took her portable oxygen tank & inhaler over. She said she'd had 3 treatments before she ever got there, sigh. She's only supposed to have up to 4 a day. I don't think she takes it right.

I went over to Luana's this morning & was helping her mix the salad & fix the veggie tray. The plan was that I would be there to meet & greet while she went to pick up Vaudis. I said I could go get Vaudis, but she had to check on Karol Lou Anderson & she'd just go. As Luana was leaving, she told me to cut the cheese (for the veggie tray). I stood there & looked at her & said, "Do we really want to cut the cheese?" She didn't catch my little joke. So, I explained it. She was horrified, hehe. She had never heard that before. I said maybe her kids hadn't dared tell her. So, during dinner, she mentioned it. Vaudis, Onda & Keith had never heard it. But the rest had, LOL.

Gotta tell this cute little story Maxine told.

A little boy asked his mother where he had come from. So, she explained about Adam & Eve & how we are descended from them. Still confused, the boy went to his father & asked the same question. The father said we are descended from monkeys. Really confused now, the boy went back to his mother. His mother, hearing what the father had said, told the little boy, "I told you about my side of the family. Your father told you about his side of the family."

By then, I'm sure he was completely confused.

Pre-op appointment today

Today I was supposed to be able to sleep in, dream on! At 3:30 a.m., I woke up to Don kissing my hand. Nick was not feeling good & needed to know what to do for diarrhea. I woke up long enough to tell them where the anti-diarrheal pills were. Nick had woken his dad up. I told them where the pills were & for Nick to take 2. At 8:15, I woke up to Nick poking my hand. He wanted to know if he needed to take another anti-diarrheal pill. Yes, if he'd had another bout of diarrhea. He spent most of the day napping, while I had to run errands & go to the pre-op appointment in Logan for my gall bladder surgery on Monday.

I made it to the doctor's appt. a little bit late. Dr. Broadbent explained the procedure, they gave me the paperwork to take to Cache Valley Specialty Hospital (CVSH) for bloodwork & an EKG. Because a friend had told me that he'd done her gall bladder surgery & also repaired her herniated belly button, I asked him if he could do it for me. He wanted to look at my belly button. I told him it was a Dr. Orvid Cutler belly button, but it hadn't survived 2 pregnancies very well. He checked it & said he'd be glad to fix it. A couple of stitches & it would be as good as new. Kewl!! Thx Carolyn.

The hospital stay will be overnight. I have so many health problems Dr. B. wants to keep me overnight. He also put me first on the surgical schedule. I have to be at CVSH at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, which means a 5:45 wake up time.

Before we went over to CVSH, I took Mother to Cache Valley Cardiology, Dr. Otrusinik's office, for her pro-time. It was 4.9! Ack! It had risen from 2.7 in one week. We need to recheck in one week. Mother will have to go down with Don Tuesday morning when he picks me up. Unless Don-Mike has Tuesday or Wednesday off & can take her. Nick also has a dentist appt., Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. I told Don I was glad he'd taken both Monday & Tuesday off, because he could substitute for me on Tuesday.

That's the bad thing about having no siblings, there is no one to spell you. I had a Church member tell me on my mission, actually she told my companion & my comp told me that I take being an only child too seriously. I don't think I take it serious enough. I have some real guilt issues when it comes to Daddy & not being there for he & Mother when he was so sick.

I didn't start out life as an only child. I am the youngest of three. My sister, Wanda, was born in November of 1946. My brother, Eldon, was born in March of 1949 & I was born in August of 1950. Eldon & I are 16 months apart. Life would have been a lot different if he had lived. As it was, he was injured at birth. My mom was in the hospital, but the doctor hadn't made it yet. The baby's head was crowning & the nurse panicked & pushed my mother's legs together, crushing the baby's head. He lived for 12 days. Mother & Daddy did not get a picture of him. Mother's oldest brother was supposed to take a picture of him. If he did, Mother never got a picture. My parents didn't have a camera.

My mother was very sick when I was born, something to do with blood. They didn't expect her to live. She was in the hospital for weeks. She was never able to have another child. She had a couple of miscarriages. I have Rh negative blood & she has Rh positive blood. I think that played a role in the fact that she was not able to carry another pregnancy to term.

My sister Wanda died 10 days after her 24th birthday of the side effects of cortisone given to her for the treatment of lupus, systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE. In 1970, they said it was cancer. Daddy died on Grandma Porter's birthday, May 26, 1992.

So, there is just me. Mother, however, comes from a large family of 8, 3 boys & 5 girls. Most of her sisters & brothers have large families, although there are 2 sisters with 3 kids. Their kids are all living, grown, married & have pretty large families. So, Mother feels left out. It really irks me when people brag about their large posterity.

We have a full quorum of family almost every Sunday. I feel overwhelmed with no siblings and sons, not daughters, to help care for Mother. But my sons are a big help. Especially Don-Mike.

Don-Mike & Mother live in Aunt Vi's house, across town. Mother's sister Luana rents it out. Vi was Luana's sister-in-law. There is not room for 5 adults here. It is a small 2 bedroom home. Don & I slept in a camper out back for years. We decided it was time to build on to our house in 2007 & the camper had to be moved. Don-Mike & Nick were sharing a room & they needed their own space. Luana's rental came vacant at the perfect time. It's a cute 2 bedroom home. I think it is the only way Mother would have moved out of her house.

I was going through chemo at the time & it would have been impossible for me to climb in & out of that camper. I couldn't sleep in there during the day anyway, because it was too hot.

Sorry I went off on a tangent. It sounds like a pity party, but it isn't really. It's "just the facts ma'am," as Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet would say.

I am very grateful for my husband & our sons. I am also very grateful to have children as the doctor told me that I would never be able to carry a pregnancy to term. We got 2 out of 6. Heavenly Father definitely knew what He was doing when He stopped at 2. I have 2 very determined sons. They beat the odds of getting here & are persistent. Sometimes not as determined & persistent as I want them to be in some areas, but we'll save that for another post.

As for me, I haven't discovered what my purpose here on earth is.

Moving in May, 5/2

As many times as I ran back & forth between Jim & Donna's house & the party room, I feel like I moved for 15 minutes. It just wasn't consecutive.

Today was the Porter siblings party. It was such a rainy day. Then this afternoon, it cleared off & was a beautiful, sunshiny day. I took Mother & Luana down in Don's car. It sounds like I'm going to have to buckle down & clean out my car because Donna wants to take Mother down to see their cousin Elva Larsen in Brigham City. Luana wants to go too.

Everyone was to the party except Larry's wife Madge. She was sick. Larry rode down with Keith & Onda, Maxine & Bernard. Vaudis rode down with Dorin & Lucy. Lucy drove. Donna & Jim's granddaugther Alashandra came to drop something off & we talked her into bringing Matt & Baby Zeke in to meet us all. They are blessing Zeke tomorrow.

We attended Burkley Balzar's baptism & confirmation this morning in Franklin. I THOUGHT Amber had said that Burkley would be baptized first, but no such thing. Whitney 2nd Ward was the host ward & the host ward's children are always baptized LAST!!

So, once I got over the disappointment & irritation, I decided that I'd just run home & get my rice pudding & laptop. Which reminds me, the laptop is still out in the trunk of Don's car. The rice pudding is a recipe I got from A Year of Crockpotting. Mine turned out very runny. I used skim milk instead of half & half or whipping cream. That may have been why. When I make it again, I'll use more rice.

Applied for Medicaid

I applied for Medicaid today. I was denied almost as soon as I finished the application, LOL. I knew we wouldn't qualify, but it was a requirement before I could apply for help from IHC.

I worked for IHC when Nick was born. I was verbally told that I could take 8 weeks of maternity leave, but it was not in writing. I took one day over my 6 weeks & was fired. I had a lot of anger & depression to get over.

I finally got the invitations for Mother's siblings party finished & in the mail. None too soon either, the party is Saturday, May 2.

Lent, Day 21

I always wonder what day of Lent I'm on, but it looks like 21. And I could not believe the time when I checked it, 11:15 p.m. I hadn't even read the update on Baby Jonah & since he had such a wild day, I had to share it with Don, then Don-Mike came home, for just a few minutes. He had to close tonight, & open in the morning & he was tired, so he didn't stay. He didn't even sit down, just leaned against the front door, walked back to say hi to Nick & left.

Last night I was ready to go to bed at 11:30! Don has not been feeling well, this cold has been kicking his butt, & he went to bed at 11:15. Part of his bedtime routine is putting the cats to bed. He told me he didn't know where Brackin & Marsha were, but the other cats were in the laundry room. So, I turned off the computer to go to bed & there was Sammy & Priscilla laying in the chairs in the front room. I took the flashlight & looked all over the house for Brackin & Marsha. No luck. I found out why 2 of the 3 cats were back in the house. Don had forgot to push the sugar bucket up against the door to the laundry room. Sammy & Prissy are the 2 heaviest cats. I did not want to pick them up, but knew I had to. So, I carried them one at a time to the door. Closed it & pushed the bucket up against it. Went to the front door & called the 2 missing cats. No luck. I sat down & waited a few minutes & went back to the door. Still no luck, I took my meds & checked again. Finally, here came Brackin, running up on the porch & right into the house. He stopped at the cat dishes & then went to the laundry room door & waited to be let out.

We have a cat door built into the outside wall of the laundry room, but we lock it at night because the cat next door is a mean cat & savages our cats, especially at night. Well, Miss Marsha Lu still did not come. I was fuming. These stupid cats don't even know their curfew! Finally, at 5 minutes to 12 here comes Miss Marsha waltzing in. She sleeps on our bed. She was not ready to go to bed, but once I had all 5 of my cats in, I turned out the light, locked the door & went to bed. At 1 o'clock, Don makes some noise which either woke me up or startled me out of a stupor, picks Marsha up & puts her outside. He said she'd been wanting out ever since she came in. How he knew that, I don't know, he was definitely asleep when I went to bed at midnight.

I slept until 10 this morning. So, I guess, if I require 10 hours of sleep & have to be to work by 9 a.m., I'm going to have to adjust this bedtime thing to give me the 10 hours of sleep I need & make it so I can wake up & make it to work by 9 a.m. Does that mean I have to be in bed by 10?? I like to stay up & say good night to Don-Mike. He stops by on his way home from work & he's been working long days ever since Big J's reopened.

Mother seemed very confused today. I know she didn't have her hearing aid in, but I had to repeat things a lot & then she got the story wrong. I asked her if she wanted fruit & she snapped & said she didn't want any soup.

I asked her about doing a siblings party this year. It's her year to host it & she said she didn't want to. I've been doing some thinking about this & checked with Juniper Take Out in Logan. They have a nice banquet room that is free & doesn't have to be reserved very far in advance. Their dinners are quite reasonable too, so we could ask the siblings to pay for their own meals. She said she didn't think they'd go for it. Luana came over & I asked her. She said she thought that sounded like a good idea. She & Merl used to go there sometimes after a temple trip.

I called & talked to Maxine & she said she thought that sounded like a good idea & we tentatively scheduled May 2, a Saturday. I told her to pencil it in. I want it near the first of the month because everyone is on Social Security. I know that everyone's checks come at different times, but I thought the first of the month might be a good idea. So, I guess I'll put some more feelers out & then send out invitations. I say 2 out of 6 is pretty good odds. Maxine said she'd talk to Onda.

Both Luana & Maxine wondered about Dorin & Lucy going that far & I said maybe we could invite Nonavee to take them & Vaudis. Maxine worried about Luana & I said we'd take her.

I asked Maxine about the Porter Reunion last summer & she said that Onda's & Donna's families got together, but they'd been doing that all their lives, & not to feel hurt. It definitely wasn't a "family" reunion.

If I remember, I'll tell the story of why the door between the kitchen & laundry room does not latch, LOL.