Saturday, Dec. 11

Now, it really is Saturday. I posted last night at 1 a.m. I went to bed at 2, after reading my scriptures. My feet were SOOO cold, I couldn't go to sleep, so I "wrote" a talk in my head & the next thing I knew it was morning.

I felt so good today, I overdid. We went to Logan & shopped. I got the Christmas gifts for DUP at the Dollar Tree in Smithfield. We ate at Big J's in Richmond. When we got home, we took the DUP gifts over to Mother's, showed her & then I left them there.

I bought Christmas stockings again, only this year I filled them with wrapping supplies like adhesive tape, tissue paper, scissors, little gift bags & a pretty fluffy bow with matching ribbon. As either a personal gift, or something they can re-gift, I put in door knob hangers with bells. The Christmas stockings were satin, one silver & one gold. For the silver stocking I bought silver bells, silver tissue, silver gift bag & purple scissors. For the gold stocking I bought red & gold.

Don & I changed the beds at Mother's & I changed the dressing on Mother's leg. The wound looks really good. If it looks as good tomorrow, I'll go for the dry bandage & let it dry up.

I was so tired, I came home & lay down for a nap, from which I woke thoroughly chilled. Don had fixed toasted cheese sandwiches & tomato soup for supper. I have such a wonderful husband.

Act of Service, Dec. 3

These are not random acts of kindness, these are acts of service. The turkey yesterday was not an act of service, in fact, I hope Clareen didn't think I was unappreciative of her act of service by bringing Mother food from the Community Pantry. I just thought if she hadn't been able to get a turkey for Shannon, she could give that one to Shannon.

My act of service today was cleaning up the blood on Mother's floor & "finding" her bed. She fell this morning, cracked a rib, bruised her arm from wrist to elbow & scraped her shin, again. I think this is the 4th time she's scraped her shin. It's always on the same place. The wound wasn't too bad today. Home Health used up a couple of the things we need to care for the wound. After our doctor appt., I went into the pharmacy & picked up some supplies. We can't use a band-aid on Mother's skin, it just tears & causes another wound. We have to have a whole arsenal of supplies.

Her monthly doctor's appt. with Dr. Beckstead was today, so that worked out good. I didn't have to make an extra appt. He said, "Now let's review. What could you have done different so this won't happen again?"

I said, with some asperity, "Ask for help."

Mother said with equal asperity, "There wasn't any body around to ask for help." Dr. Beckstead kind of laughed & wisely left it alone.

She was trying to get a Christmas tree skirt out of the little trunk in her bedroom & leaned on a TV tray to get up. It was, of course, not sturdy enough to hold her. It collapsed & she fell. She got herself up & out to the kitchen. She held a towel over the wound & applied pressure. We are making process. Don-Mike came home, saw what had happened & called me. He didn't have time to take care of it because he would be late for work.

I expect fussy babies, but it's hard to have a fussy mother. I don't know how to deal with it. I know she hurts & doesn't feel good, but I'm having a hard time with that "gracious" heart.

A temple to their god

It's already Saturday again. Wow! The week went fast. This is what our front yard looks like. Water standing over ice.

I worked Monday all day & Tuesday morning, actually until 1:30. I'm supposed to be finished by noon. I stayed an hour and a half to do some research for Rod (editor) for the new recreation complex that the Preston School District is building. I found lots of information over the past year, January through December 2008, on West Side's new free-standing auditorium, but only 4 photo stories of the rec complex. So, I wrote a note to Rod telling him I found a lot of information on West Side's new "temple," but couldn't find any articles on Preston's "temple."

As with most small school districts, sports reign supreme. Someone told me at church one day that Preston School District was building a temple to their god. The analogy tickled me. I've used it a lot. West Side has been working on their auditorium for several years too. They've coveted an auditorium for a long time.

I picked Mother up for her doctor's appointments in Logan, but didn't have time for lunch. We were just pulling into the Logan Regional Hospital when Don-Mike called to see where Mother was. He & Nick had gone to Chester Fried Chicken & bought a family order of chicken tenders to share with her. They know she doesn't get home-delivered meals from the senior center on Tuesday.

We went from the cardiologist at the hospital to Dr. Carlson at the new clinic. He was very concerned about Mother's leg & referred us to a wound clinic at an orthopedic clinic over at the hospital. We went back down to Logan on Wednesday & her wound has to be dressed 2x a day. It also had to be debrided.

On Wednesday, Mother's sister, Maxine, & her husband, Bernard, came down to visit Maxine's "elderly" sibs. They started at Luana's. She had put a hamburger soup on to feed them, but she had visiting teachers(1) coming. Maxine & Bernard went up to Dorin's, their oldest brother, & the plan was to go back to Luana's for lunch. It was getting close to lunchtime, and they weren't back. Luana called Lucy & she said she had a pot of chili simmering & she was going to feed them lunch. Meanwhile, the day before, Maxine had made a big pot of chicken noodle soup & homemade rolls she was going to bring down & share. When she got home from a church meeting Tuesday evening, the homemade rolls & soup was gone. Some of her grandkids had visited & eaten the soup & rolls. Yumm. I told her the good news was that she had something to feed them.

I felt kind of bad. I hadn't made any soup. Mother & I enjoyed Luana's soup Wednesday evening. I'm supposed to cook on Wednesday evening, but I asked Don to call Pizza Villa & see if they'd cook supper for me. I thought that I had time to cut his hair. He's been asking for a haircut for weeks. So, I just got started & got the clippers adjusted so they weren't pulling when I asked what time he was supposed to pick up the pizza. He answered, "7:30." Ack, it was 7:30. I whipped off the hair cutting cape & told him to put a hat on, we'd finish when he got back. At 10:30 he finally remembered that he was getting his hair cut.

Thursday I thought I had to work, but found out I was confused. I have to work next Thursday, Jan. 29. I'll just have to remember that I work the day after the Challenger anniversary. Thursday was busy anyway. I dressed Mother's wound, took lunch money to Eddie at West Side High School, worked for 3 hours & went to Logan to pick up Kim's car & kyped Luana's leftover soup from Mother & used it as the base for meat ball soup.

Friday was another work day & today has been a free day. I'm dressed only because I had to go over to Mother's this morning before her hair appointment & change the dressing on her leg.

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(1) Visiting teaching: A program of the Relief Society that enables every woman to be visited in her home and to receive instruction, fellowship, and needed assistance from fellow sisters. Each woman is typically assigned two visiting teachers who visit monthly.

Will the inversion ever end?

Weather here has been new & interesting. It was 21° this morning & it was RAINING. We were having an ice storm. Don says it's because the inversion is so strong. We've had another red burn day. It's been red burn all week. We are so socked in, even the precip won't break it.

I went to Logan this afternoon to pick up Kim Kent's car. Kim & Shari flew to Connecticut to take care of her aunt & get her affairs in order. The bridge in the river bottoms just north of Franklin was a sheet of ice. There was an accident. A big 4-wheel drive pickup had hit that bridge going too fast for conditions. It looked like the truck was going south & did a 180 (° turn) & started back up the hill going north. The truck slammed against the cement wall of the bridge. There was a police car on the scene & when I got about even with the police car, the car started sliding. Man! that scared me, I just KNEW I was going to be the next car to pile up. I took my foot off the gas & the car straightened up. I went about 45 the rest of the way home.

I went over to dress Mother's wound tonight & when I went, I almost fell under the car because everything is a sheet of ice with water on top of it. I need to get some cleats to attach to my shoes. I think Gloria (Bartlomé) & her family gave some to Don's mom once. I wonder whatever happened to them. I wonder where you can get them.