This and that

Yesterday when I was opening a can for the dog, I cut the top of my index finger.  Ouch!!  It was bleeding a lot.  I almost thought I was going to need stitches.  We put peroxide on it and bandaged it pretty good.  I cleaned it again in the evening and it was still bleeding but only a little bit.  So I put another band aid on.  This morning it's fine.  Thank goodness, I would have hated to go to ER.

We went to see mom as usual.  We sat in the lobby by the fireplace.  It's so cozy.

I bought some raffle tickets there.  They are raffling off some little decorated Christmas trees and wreaths on December 3rd.  Each department made them.  The raffle is for Alzheimer's.  This is the first year they did this and she said they've gotten a good response.  Hopefully, we might win something.

I'm decorating the tree slowly but surely.  I'll probably get it done today.  After that I still have a few more things to get out and then I should be done.

Have a good day.

Black Friday and decorations

Did anyone go out yesterday for Black Friday?  I didn't.  I went one time when my son was younger.  I went to Best Buy with my girlfriend to buy a video game.  I think we went about 6 a.m. When we were standing in line I told her, I wasn't going to fight somebody for a stupid game LOL.  That was the first and last time I went. 

We didn't get the tree up yesterday, wah!!  Ron just wasn't into it.  He's putting it up now.  Usually he puts it up on Friday with the lights and I decorate in on Saturday.  I don't know when I will do it.  Did you start putting up your decorations yet?

Thanksgiving recap

We had a really great time at my brother and sister-in-laws.  Good food and good company.  I hadn't seen my sister-in-laws family for years.  It was good to catch up with them.  I was so stuffed.  I ate more than usual (not good for my weight).  I think it had a lot to do with the fact that we didn't have to cook it, just eat it.  They didn't want us to bring anything but my neighbor behind gave us a pumpkin roll.  We left some here but took the majority of it there.  My brother took mom's dining room set so we were able to use that to eat at.  Also, the buffet.  Mom never really used it to put food on so it looked nice.  I wouldn't mind going there again next year ;0)  We got some leftover turkey which we will probably have tonight. 

We went to see Mom for a little bit yesterday morning before we went to my brother's.  Everyone was in the day room watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  I asked her today did she have a good Thanksgiving meal.  She said they had turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, corn, beets and pumpkin pie.  I'm pretty sure she was talking about lunch and supper but she said it was all good.

First Snow

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning - I think because when we got home from my brother's I laid down to watch Survivor.  The next thing I knew it was 9:00 p.m. oh oh.  This is what I saw (I had to brighten it up a little bit) when I opened the blinds this morning.

 about 6 a.m.

Then about 7:30 a.m. I saw this. Although the first picture of the posts are a little dark, look at how much more snow is on them.

                                                             and the trees

I'll be back later after I see mom to let you know how her Thanksgiving and ours went.

Things I am thankful for....

I am thankful for my husband.   He is such a good and thoughtful man.  I am very blessed to have him in my life and I know it.

I am thankful for my son. Even though he won't be with us this year (I'll miss him a lot) for Thanksgiving. I'm happy that he's having an adventure and living out of state. He was brave to do that and I know he's going to learn so much. He really turned out to be a kind, compassionate guy (although I will always call him my kid). I will be so excited to see him in January. 

I am thankful for my Mom. A few months ago I thought she might not be here.  She is just thriving now.  She is safe, healthy and happy.

I am thankful for the Nursing Home.  They are taking such good care of her.  You worry when you choose a place for a parent to live.  I know I picked a winner.

I am thankful that everyone in my family seems to be doing pretty well.  Although some have had trials and tribulations this year, I know the future will be better for them.

I am thankful for my brother and sister-in-law for having Thanksgiving this year.  That means no cooking and cleaning for us; and that's a good thing.

I am thankful for that little picture on the top of this post.  One year my husband got a recipe for stuffing, I typed it out and he had our son draw a picture of a turkey on it. I don't remember how old he was.  Every year I print it out and my husband uses it for the stuffing and I see that little turkey and it makes me smile. This year since he won't be making it - I thought it would be apropos to still honor this little turkey by putting it in a post ;-).  I'm just so thankful that I saved it all these years.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.  Hope it's a good one.  See you all on Friday.

Doctor

I had a regular doctor's appointment yesterday.  It was mostly to check on my cholesterol.  Since I started back on the cholesterol medicine on a regular basis, my cholesterol was excellent.  I'm on a low dose and he's thinking of dropping it to  5mg.  He probably would have written me a new script but I just ordered new pills. 

 

Remember when everything happened with Mom and I lost all that weight, well it's back on.  Plus, a couple of more pounds.  I asked the doctor if it could be the anxiety medication.  He said the medication could make you more hungry but if you eat a lot of junk food like a pig you just have to be more careful in what you eat.  What a time to hear this just when the holidays are here.

What I learned this week

I finally learned how to put pictures on my blog and writing underneath.  All this time when I put pictures on they were one right after another.  I took the time to figure it out and I did it Ha!!

 

A couple of weeks ago, I learned how to set up Mcklinky on one my posts.  Even though I didn't get any responses, I felt good that in the future I will know how to do it.

 

I learn this every week it seems but I have to learn how to make it a habit.  If I have to do something just do it and don't put it off.  Like my Christmas cards, it just took a couple of days when I put my mind to it. 

 

I've never thought of myself as a procrastinator but from the things I posted it seems that I am LOL.  For the new year, I think my catch phrase will be JUST DO IT.

 

For more What I learned this week go to

http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2009/11/what-i-learned-this-week-14.html

The People

Since nothing much is going on I thought I'd give some observations about some of the people at the nursing home. I'm really interested in finding out their stories.

 

There's one lady that when I think of her, she's the "Hello Lady" to me.  She is in a wheelchair and I think she must not be able to see.  When she is sitting in the day room she is always saying hello, hello. 

 

Then there's a man that always has a terrible cough.  My mom says he's a derelict and they let him stay upstairs for free but he comes down to her floor to eat and get toilet paper.  I don't know where she came up with that idea.  He must live down the other hallway.  

 

Then there's a woman when Mom first came there she sat in the dayroom with her.  I couldn't figure out why this woman was even there.  She seemed to have her wits about her and she was able to walk unaided.  Lately though when I've seen her, I could tell her mind is failing and she seems confused.  She has to wear a little band around her ankle so if she tries to walk through the double doors out of the wing an alarm sounds and they know and bring her back.

 

Then there's the young woman.  I'm not sure what her story is.  She is in a wheelchair that you kinda sit and lay back in.  My mom said she heard the woman is mentally challenged.  I saw a show on cable about people that had brain trauma and I wonder if that's what happened to her. 

 

That's just a few of the people that are where Mom is.  I really have to find out the people's names.  More observations in the future.

Cards

I spent yesterday and today working on my Christmas cards.  I found some labels from last year on my computer but there was one page missing.  It was only about 10 labels so I made them.  My cards are now done except for licking the envelopes, buying the stamps and putting them on.  Looks like I will probably keep my record of having them done before Thanksgiving ;-)

WooHoo

Congrats Buckeyes on beating Michigan and becoming the Big Ten Champs.

Onto the Rose Bowl (now for heaven's sake, win a  bowl game - please).

Show us your pets

I read this blog that has Show us your Life -  pets.  To see other people's pets go here http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

This is mom's/our pet Corky.  He lives with us now.  He was given to mom and dad from my brother as a Christmas present and is a pound dog. 9 years old

Overall, he's a great dog but kind of skiddish.  He refuses to go into any other room of my house except the living room and dining room which is kind of good because he is a shedder that sheds throughout the year.   He goes out of my house through the patio door.

He also does not like vacuum cleaners or roomba's.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer LOL

Today I spent about a half hour trying to get my new black cartridge to work.  I took the little piece of yellow tape like you are supposed to off.  Told the printer I had a new cartridge and every time I printed out a test page the black wouldn't print.  I must have taken it in and out a half a dozen times and cleaned the nozzle (I don't know if this would have even helped since it was brand new).  Then I checked all the cables if they were okay but the color cartridge worked. I thought the printer must be broken after all these years.  Finally I thought to go to Google and see if I could figure out why the black wouldn't print.  It was something so simple I never even thought to check.  Apparently, sometimes they put an extra piece of tape on the cartridge and that was still on, DUH!!  In all the years I've had this printer I never had that situation before.  At least I don't have to get a new printer :0)

Tree lighting ceremony

They had a tree lighting ceremony at the nursing home yesterday.  My cousin and her husband, the same ones that brought the flowers, took Mom to it.  She emailed me last night and said they lit trees outside and unless you were close to the windows you didn't get to see the lighting of the trees, which they didn't. She talked to one of the people in charge and mentioned that she thought they were going to light the trees in the facility.  This was the first year they did it and she said maybe next year they would.  I know you could sponsor a tree for Alzheimer's and I wasn't sure how they were going to do that.  I suppose when you try something new, it takes a while to work the kinks out.  Maybe by next year they will.

When I went to see Mom today she didn't seem to mind that she didn't actually see the ceremony.  In fact, she didn't mention it ;-)

She was very excited to tell me about it.  She had snacks and they had flute players playing.  She said she really had a good time and it was so festive.  Thanks cousin for taking her and for the pictures.

Should be an easy day

Not much should be going on today. I'm letting Berta do her thing and then will sort some laundry for tomorrow.

My cousin when she came brought some flowers for my mom. When I went to take Mom's pop to her room, the flowers were on the roommates little dresser. I took them and put them back on mom's dresser. I'm not sure if the roommate put them there or if the aid put them there for some reason when she got clothes out of mom's dresser. A mystery.

We were wondering what to do about Mom for Thanksgiving. She says they are having a big shindig for Thanksgiving at the nursing home, so that's a load off my mind. I just didn't think we'd be able to get her in and out of the van to take her to my brothers plus the steps.

Usually I make labels for my Christmas cards but I'm probably going to address them by hand this year. I just really don't feel like fooling around making labels. We'll see. I might change my mind - or not.

Monday thoughts

Yesterday after seeing Mom we went to her house. Ron and my brother moved the stove and refrigerator out because he wants it for his rental property. I'm still waiting on my girlfriend's son to come get the freezer. There's still a few things that need to get out but I'm not too worried about that for now.

Today we went to the Realtor's office. I got the paper I needed to fax to the agency and signed the papers to sell Mom's house. She is supposed to go over within 48 hours and look at the house one more time and put the For Sale sign up. I'll be glad when this is all settled and all we will have to be concerned with is mom.

When we were done, we took the paper to the nursing home and had the girl fax it to the agency. I will probably call in a couple of days to confirm she got it. I still have a few questions about how this all works.

Who was that woman at my house on Saturday

It was me. I don't know what got into me. Was it the beautiful sunny day? Was it Berta doing her job and egging me on? Or was I just having a manic day LOL. I cleaned the bathroom, half bath, living room, dining room, bedroom and computer room. I really didn't need to do anything in the kitchen because I've been keeping up with that pretty well. Also, mom's old room until we get the carpet out, I pretty much avoid it. All I know is it's all done, phew.

I also managed to do a load of towels which was good and bad news. I threw them in and didn't notice I put this little red cloth thing from Mom's stable in. Oops, the new towels we bought that were an off white are now kinda off pink. Oh well, at least the house is clean.

Saturday thoughts

Although Mom was doing good yesterday, she mentioned Thursday she had some gastro intestinal problems (I won't go into details) on Thursday but she was feeling good. Later in the day yesterday, she called me and again after lunch she had the same issues. They told her she would probably stay in bed the next couple of days. I wonder if she's got some kind of virus or I'm wondering about the candy I bring her. Since she's a diabetic, I bring her candy that has a sugar substitute in it. I only bring her about 7 or 8 pieces because I know it can cause issues. Lately, I've been alternating with pretzels which have never caused any problems. Hopefully, when I go tomorrow her regular nurse will be in and I can discuss this with her.

I saw the activities director in the hallway and she said she already used two of the CD's that I brought her.

They have this tree by the parking lot and it's the first time I noticed since fall came and the leaves were gone there are red berries on it. At first I thought it was tiny leaves growing but on closer inspection they were indeed berries. It sure looked gorgeous.

Friday stuff

It's a beautiful day. Not much happening. Went to see Mom she was doing pretty good. The Realtor called we are going to see her on Monday afternoon. She has the paper I need. My brother wants the families old nativity stable so I've been packing up all the figures and we will probably take it to his house on Thanksgiving. That's about if for now. I'm not sure if I will post over the weekend, I'll see if I have something to say. If I don't have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Random thoughts

When we woke up this morning we had frost on the ground. Brrrrrrrr

I changed the appointment with the Realtor from 1:00 to 2:00 because I forgot I was supposed to go with my friend because she was going to find out about her breast biopsy. Her appointment wasn't until 10:45 but the last time we waited quite a long time in the doctor's office and I didn't want to feel rushed. She called me about 8:30 a.m. this morning to say the doctor had surgery at 11:00 and wanted her to come in right away. She said she would just go and call me when she was done. Thank goodness when she called back it was benign.

Then when we were going over to meet the Realtor we were at a red light waiting for the left turn signal to go. There was a guy in front of us; in his right hand he had a cell phone up to his ear and in his left hand he was smoking a cigarette. All of a sudden he pulls out and goes straight. Then I see him turn into the gas station and pull out onto the street we were waiting to go onto. This street he was going on is a city that you can't be driving and talking on your cell phone. We see people all the time driving through there talking on their cell phones. Ron said, I hope that guy gets caught. Sure enough when we made the turn and started going down the road we saw a cruiser with its lights on. LOL, the guy got stopped by the police. Now we're not sure if he got stopped because he got caught talking on the phone but that would be my bet.

I called my brother to tell him that I switched the time with the Realtor and asked him if my sil might want to be there. So we met her at my mom's house with the Realtor. This will be good. She can tell him everything the Realtor had to say. She pretty much said mom's house would be a rehab house. I'm waiting for her to write something that I can fax to the agency proving how much the house is worth. Then it will go up for sale.

We will be going to my brother's house for Thanksgiving. My sil's parents usually are in Florida for Thanksgiving but this year they are staying around until after Christmas. This will be good for us, no cooking and cleaning up afterwards. We will be able to concentrate on getting our Christmas decorations up Thanksgiving weekend.

Mom potpourri

When we went to see Mom on Sunday she had a beaded necklace on. It was pretty cute. She made it in arts and crafts. I was glad to know she participated. She always loved jewelry. Right now she wears a rosary ;-)

I think her left hearing aid finally bit the dust. Sunday, she couldn't hear out of it and we put a new battery in. Still didn't work. I had talked to the nurse a couple of weeks ago about getting her a new one for the left ear because I knew it would be breaking soon. It was five years old already. Before she went long term, we could only afford the right one and at the time since the original one was lost we went with that. I talked to the nurse on Monday to see if she started the process yet and mentioned the left one is broken now for sure. She said she started the process but it will probably take a while before it gets approved. I guess I'll just have to keep checking on it.

Yesterday my cousin called and she had been to see Mom. She said she was the best since she's been going there and she actually could carry on a conversation. This really pleased me so much. I was happy for mom that it wasn't one of her confused days and she could enjoy the visit. I was also happy for my cousin that she chose one of mom's good days. It's not so fun to visit when she's confused.

A few weeks ago, my aunt, uncle and another cousin came. This was the first time they saw Mom since she went to long term. They were very surprised at how well she was doing.

We just got back from seeing Mom. She was in a good mood and told me some about her visit with my cousin. So today was another good day for her.

I did it

I called a real estate agent and me and Ron are meeting with her Thursday at mom's house. My brother won't be able to be there because he will be at work. It will be an "as is" sale, if we can even sell it. I might have to pay someone to take it off our hands LOL. I was so apprehensive about calling but the woman I spoke to was very nice and helpful. Turns out she graduated from the same high school I did a few years before me. Wish for luck that someone will want this house. With a little love and tender care it could be great.

What I learned this week

1. If I want Berta (my roomba) to vacuum, I really have to turn her on. She won't do that, darn!

2. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some pull over sweaters from a catalog. I thought they seemed cheaper. That's because when they came they were long sleeved T-shirts. Instead of investigating I just noticed the woman in the picture and went by that. Here the reason she seemed familiar was because I had ordered Mom some. Oh well, they were nice and CHEAP and I decided to keep them. I had to reorder the sweaters but I checked this time to make sure they were sweaters Ha.

3. I learned that it's not that hard to comment on blogs. Although I'm starting slowly.

4. I've known this for a while but I constantly have to relearn when it starts creeping back in that I if I have junk food in the house I WILL eat it. I just can't help myself. So, out with the junk food for probably the 100th time.

5. What I still have to learn is how to put that little widget (or whatever) it's called in my post if I do What I learned this week again LOL. Sorry.

To see what others have learned this week check out http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/

For bloggers and non bloggers

I have some questions I'd like to ask from people who blog and from those who only read blogs. You can answer all or just what pertains to you. I'm going to answer them as I think of them. I'm going to try to put a Mcklinky in but if it doesn't show up, any bloggers can just put their link in the comments. We'll see what happens.

1. Where do you find the blogs that you read?
I don't remember when I first came across blogs. I mostly get my reading blogs from other blogs. I usually look at the their blog roll or if they recommend a blog and see if it's for me.

2. What makes you keep coming back to a blog?
It's different things. Sometimes it's the serious writing or sometimes the funny writing. It's just that I connect for some reason.

3. What makes you stop going to a blog?
The first thing is if it's difficult to read. Sometimes people have a dark background with a light font. To me that's too difficult to read. In general, once I start reading someone's blog I don't get rid of it. I might not read it as often but I still keep it. Even if they don't write for months and months. I check in every once and a while and wonder what happened to them. If they say they are ending their blog, then I will delete it.

4. Do you a read a variety of blogs or just certain types of blogs?
I tend to read a lot of "mommy blogs". I also read a few men's, single women and food blogs.

5. Why did you first start a blog?
I first started it when my mom came to live with us to keep family and friends updated. Now I would like to branch out a little bit.

6. How long did it take you to find what you really wanted your blog to be about?
I'm still trying. Although I want to branch out from writing mostly about Mom and the nursing home things, I still think that might be relevant to some peoples lives (and to friends and family so they know what's going on). I guess I have to find a balance.

7. Did you have a mentor that helped you with your blog or just figured it out all on your own?
I have this bad habit of starting things and trying to figure things out on my own. That would be okay but I never get really in depth about things. (sometimes I think I might have ADHD LOL). I just try to wing it. Besides my son and I, we were the first ones to have a computer in the family. Everyone thought I knew everything, Ha. Since then my sil has far surpassed my knowledge on computers ;-)

8. Do you ever wish you were anonymous and wouldn't have to censor yourself about what you blog?
I do. It's hard to put some things on without probably hurting people's feelings. Thus, the problem of what I want this blog to be.

9. Do you have your comments moderated - why or why not?
I don't think I have to worry about moderating comments because I don't get that many.

10. How do you come up with ideas for what you want to write?
Right now it's pretty much all about Mom with a few other things thrown it. I would like to change that ratio.

11. Blogging etiquette - is it okay to steal try some things that are on other peoples blogs?
I read a few blogs that show links from either people. Is it okay to do this even if this is on other people's blogs.

12. How often do you blog?
Right now, I'm going for the gusto with blogging. Tomorrow may be another story. Remember I'm always a strong starter but not always a good finisher. I noticed when I first started reading blogs some people posted every day. Now they post only during the week. I guess you have to figure out what works for your schedule. Something else for me to consider.

What do you think?

I'm not thrilled with it now that I see it in a picture but I can live with it if I don't find something else, at least for this year. Lately, my pictures have been coming out blurry. Sorry

Friday stuff

When we went to see Mom yesterday she was "very angry" as she put it. She was still in bed and not dressed yet. Usually by the time we come she is either dressed and out of her room or in the process of getting dressed. We get there between 10:30 and 10:45. Then she told me that they had found her original wheelchair that she came with from upstairs. She kept telling me to look in her closet for it but it's only a clothes closet. Her roommate was still in her nightclothes too. I just told Mom that they were probably busy and would be there soon.

I brought the Thanksgiving decorations for Mom's bulletin board and put those up. I didn't get a picture yet but I will soon. I'm not thrilled with the way it came out but I'll see if I can find something better if this doesn't grow on me. I asked the roommate if she wanted a few decorations and she said yes. She didn't have a lot of room on her board so I put them where I could. It will be interesting to see when Thanksgiving's over if she'll let me take them down and put up a few Christmas decorations.

By the time I was done, the aide came and got Mom dressed and I wheeled her out to the eating area because it was close to lunch.

When I was there a few weeks ago, I talked to the activities director. Mom had a bunch of CD's and I asked her if the nursing home could use them. I brought those yesterday and left them for her. Just another thing gone from my house and I'm sure they will put them to good use. They play music all the time. The director told me they didn't have any country music and that's mostly what they were.

Time change

Boy, I've been so tired this week and haven't felt like doing anything in the house. Wasn't the time change supposed to give us an extra hour of sleep? It didn't seem to work for me.

Roommates

Mom has a roommate at the nursing home. She's 85 (her birthday was in October the day before mine). She's foreign but I don't know what nationality she is. She speaks English well though. Although today was the first time I heard speak in her native tongue. I guess it was because she was yelling at me LOL.

This woman had a roommate for three years. I never asked what happened to her. When mom first got to the room with her, she used to try on my mother's stuff and look through all her drawers. She may still do that I don't know. We had a couple of books there in case mom wanted to read. Ron ended up reading them and he left it by her TV. It kept disappearing and then we found it in a drawer. We think she kept putting it in there. After that when Ron would get done reading, he would just put it in the drawer. One time when it was still on top, he went to take the book and she had a fit saying "what are you doing with that." We told her he was just going to read it then put it back. When I decided to decorate mom's bulletin board for Halloween, she had a fit because I was taking the things that were on the bulletin board off. I told her I was just decorating for Halloween and I would put the stuff back up after the holiday's. I still think she might have had something to do with the decorations coming off the board ;-) but I can't be sure. Today when we came to visit, Mom was still in her room. I figured I would take the few Halloween things that were still on the board and bring the stuff for Thanksgiving in the next few days. Oh boy, was the roommate upset. Again she said "what are you doing." I said "I'm taking the Halloween stuff down and will be bringing Thanksgiving stuff to put up." Then she said something in a foreign language and I told her she had to speak English if she wanted me to understand. She told me she liked looking at the decorations. I told her I would be bring the other things soon. Mom was still in bed and I decided to see if I could get her up by myself and get her in the wheelchair. We did fine. The roommate again started yelling at me saying "where are you taking her." I told her we were going to the lounge area.

I don't know if she forgets who I am or doesn't see well. I know one day I went into the room and she was crying because she said someone stole her glasses. I looked all over for them but then the nurse told me they were missing for a long time. She got a new pair but she said she couldn't see out of them. I always try to talk to her all the time and ask how she's doing. I think when I bring the Thanksgiving things, I might ask if she wants me to put a few things on her bulletin board.

Mom said she's never seen anyone visit her except for some religious people that come once in a while and pray with her.

If nothing else sometimes it is very interesting when I go into Mom's room.

Casinos

Finally casinos passed in Ohio. I really can't believe it. Are casinos going to pull Ohio out of the doldrums probably not but I just couldn't fathom all these Ohioans going to other states and giving them their money. I've only been to a casino once not even in America but in Canada. I had a good time but knew my limit. I had a certain amount of money I was willing to lose and then I was done. With one being closer, I will probably go to it - still knowing my limit. Will this be good for Ohio, only time will tell but I hope so.

What I learned this week

Civic duty - Did you vote today? I sent away for absentee ballots for us. We never sent them back. Today when we went to vote we had to vote on provisional ballots. Then to add insult to injury when I started to vote on one of the issues I voted wrong. I had to go ask for another ballot. I thought since we didn't send the absentee ballots in we could just vote regular - seems that isn't the case. I learned a valuable lesson either send the absentee ballot in or don't get one to begin with. Now reading about provisional ballots they won't even be counted until 7-10 days after the election. Boo Hoo! Anyway, I hope everyone voted today. If you want to see what other people have learned this week check out this site http://www.musingsofahousewife.com

oops

You may notice that the blog has a "little" different look to it. I was fooling around this morning and wanted to put a different picture on it. I took some pictures of some fall decorations I had in the house but they didn't turn out good. Then I couldn't get the image of my house back on because I forgot it got lost when my hard drive was messed up. I'm going to have to find or take another picture to put up but I don't know when this will be. This is a little bird house I have in the 1/2 bath. This will have to do for now.

Christmas

I feel like I'm so behind for Christmas this year. Usually by now, I have all my labels done and on the envelopes. I'm starting to sign the inside of the cards. I haven't even started yet. I do have my cards bought. I'm behind on my knitting but not as much as last year. I'm thinking of trying to put a little album with pictures together for Mom that she can keep at the nursing home but I don't know if I'll get around to it. I probably have less to do than most Christmases but it seems like I'm further behind for some reason. Oh well, I suppose it will all get done.

Sunday, Sunday

We went to see mom early. She was doing good. Then we left and went to her house. My brother and sister-in-law were already there packing stuff. We got a lot done today again. Ron and my brother made a few trips with the van and my brother's SUV to put stuff by his house. We got the attic done and swept up. There's just a few more big things to get out. We have stuff we want the neighbor to look at to see if they want if not we'll just give it to Goodwill. Probably in the next week or so, I'll be contacting the real estate agent. My brother had two people on the street tell him to let him know when we're selling that they may be interested. It would be great if we could sell it real quick. We got there at 12 and left by 3:30. I've got some dishes to do, and then we are going to relax for the rest of the night. We are beat.