Mom update

Mom seems a lot better.  They put her on steroids for that horrid cackling in her chest which on Friday she was already sounding a lot better and much less coughing.  Today when I went there they had her sitting up in a chair. Her legs seem to be less swollen too which is a good thing.  She said she saw the doctor and he told her she would get out on Monday. So we'll see what happens.

I don't mean to be cryptic about this but something might be different when Mom goes back to the nursing home. The social worker called me on Thursday right before I went to the hospital; she said mom may or may not be going back to the same room.  I guess I'll find out when she goes back.  It seems very curious to me.

Random thoughts

1.  While I love the google reader, I'm finding it hard to comment some times.  I want to think about my comment for awhile and then I forget where I wanted to go back and comment.

2.  Last Sunday, it was in the 40's.  It almost felt like spring.  This week - not so much.  In fact we're in the middle of a blizzard.

3. McDonalds - I liked the Filet O Fish commercial better last year.  Although hopefully, this new one will grow on me but I just don't laugh every time like I did with the other one. 

4.  Enough with the celebrities and politicians apologizing and confessing already.  Most of its none of our business anyway.

5.  I enjoy watching the Olympics but I'm looking forward to going to sleep at a decent hour.

6.  I'm loving Survivor Hero's and Villains much more than I thought I would.

7.  My oncologists barn door was open but I was too embarrassed to tell him.  You could barely tell though so maybe no one else noticed LOL.

8.  I think my luck is running out with the tooth that was hurting in December.  It feels like it's starting to hurt again.  Uh oh, not good!!

9. My husband is sick with what seems like a terrible cold.   I hope he doesn't end up with the flu, since he didn't get a flu shot.  I just had him drop me off at the hospital.

10. If there's anything to report about mom I'll blog about it.  If not, have a good weekend.

Mom Update

Not much really to report for now.  I was at the hospital about 3 1/2 hours and so far they didn't do anything.  They asked a bunch of questions and were waiting for the doctor to call to see what they needed to do.

Actually, she looks pretty good.  Like nothing is wrong until you hear her breathing.  It kinda reminds me of a wheezing and cackling.  I could hear it clear across the room.

We were lucky.  She didn't have to go through the ER, she got direct admitting which saved a tremendous amount of time.  

I suppose when I go tomorrow I will find out more.

Mom

I got a call from the nursing home and they are taking mom to the hospital.  I'm waiting on a call back from the nurse.  She said although mom said she feels good, the nurse said her wheezing has gotten worse.  Please keep her in your thoughts. 

Alphabe-Thursday

F is for Fleas which frankly fluster me.

When my mom came to stay with us in August 2008 with her dog, we eventually found uninvited guests that came with the dog, fleas.

At first I noticed the dog scratching a lot but he used to do that at mom's house.  I kept thinking he might have fleas.  My husband kept combing him with a flea comb but it was fruitless.  I still thought he might have fleas but then convinced myself since he sheds so much, he must be scratching from that.

Until one time, my husband went to mom's to pick up her mail and he said when he went in her house, ferocious fleas  jumped on him fast. They were all over his white socks which after I looked on the Internet I found that's a good way to tell if you have fleas in the house.  I guess they are attracted to the light color.

When he came home and told me, to say I was freaked out was an understatement.  I was so frantic, I could hardly function at first LOL.  Once I was able to regain my faculties, I fiercely and with great fervor washed everything in hot water that I could see.  My husband vacuumed all the furniture.  My sister-in-law told me about this medication that would kill any adult fleas that were on him immediately.  We were giving him a monthly flea medication but when I took it from Mom's house I forgot to check the expiration date and found out it was expired.

Then
we my husband had to deal with mom's house.  We didn't really want to do a flea bomb or whatever they are called (they seem frightening).  I found this spray on the internet and he went and bought it.  He had to go over a couple of times and spray it all over her furniture but eventually he got rid of them. I then felt funky about the van thinking that they were probably in there as well.  I
made asked him to vacuum out the van and spray it too.

Hopefully, we won't see those forceful fleas again because that would give me fits.

Go over to Jenny's and see what fabulous words people came up with for the letter F http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/02/alphabe-thursday-f.html

Me and Mom

Monday, I had my appointment with the oncologist.  Luckily, everything seems to be okay.  He said I could come back in a year but I said I'd be back in six months.  I just don't feel comfortable waiting a year.  I'll be stopping my medication that I'm taking in July from him because you are only supposed to take it for 5 years and time will be up.  Then it will be scary. When I'm taking the medication I at least feel I'm still doing something.  It will be strange to not have to take it. 

So, I'll go in six months again.  Be all nervous, for a month before I go and hopefully, everything will be good.  I don't think I'll ever get over the feeling of being nervous when it's time to go.

Mom isn't doing so great.  When we there on Friday I noticed her coughing a little.  By the time we got there on Sunday they were doing breathing treatments on her.  Monday as we were driving to see her the nurse called and mom was worse.  They called the doctor and he put her back on oxygen.  They were also going to do a chest x-ray.  When we got there mom was not pleased with having to be on the oxygen but I could tell her cough was worse.  Also, she had a problem with her roommate during the night.  Because she was so aggravated about the oxygen and not being mobile I couldn't get a clear picture of what happened.  The nurse said she had to report it to the director.

Tuesday when no one called about the x-ray, I finally was able to get a hold of the nurse.  They put her on an antibiotic because she's been running a low grade fever.  She doesn't have pneumonia but she does have congestive heart failure so they doubled the dose again for the water pill.  Plus the breathing treatments and they will be checking her blood.  The same nurse that was there Monday was there Tuesday and she said she thought mom was worse.  When they were taking her to the day room, she said mom was having such a hard time breathing that she couldn't wheel herself down like she normally does.

I asked how it went with the roommate over night and I guess it went okay but the social worker is supposed to talk to the roommate some time.

Why is it, as soon as you get one thing off your mind something is always waiting to replace it, ugh!!!  It's not like I don't have other things I have to work out.  I'll have some cheese with my whine LOL.

Rest of the Story

So the rest of the story,

Our son had his operation shortly after the doctor talked to my husband and myself and every thing went well. At that time, they kept you in the hospital for 7 days after a C-section or at least that's how long they kept me.   I was very concerned that since I couldn't bond with my son being stuck in the hospital, I told my husband not to come and visit me to stay with him.  Naturally, he didn't listen and would go to my son, then me and then back to stay with our son overnight.  Plus, he still had to go to work.   My husband learned how to feed him and change his diapers before me.  I think my husband really enjoyed this time alone with him.  Although until this day, he is still mad that they didn't let him stay for the C-section. 

Here's a picture when he was 4 days old. Look at all that big thing on his arm.  Poor little guy. He also looks a little beat up on his face. 

The OB told us at the time he got stuck and couldn't get his shoulders through.  He said I had something called a Bandl's Ring which was an hourglass shaped uterus.  He said he had only read about it but never saw anyone that had it.  All these years, I never thought about googling it.  Well I did, and either he was incorrect about what a Bandl's Ring was or he didn't know what he was talking about.

Finally, the day arrived that I was getting out of the hospital.  We went right to our son.  I was never so happy in my life to see someone.  All I had seen were a few not so good Polaroid pictures up until then.  He was such a tiny guy. I actually saw him when he was 7 days old but I liked this picture better LOL.  He is 8 days old here.

I couldn't breast feed.  He had to use preemie nipples on the bottle.  He was so weak that I had to push his little chin up and down so he could eat.  He was pretty healthy otherwise.  All he had to do was gain weight two consecutive days and we could take him home.  He finally did.  He had lost a lot of weight while he was there and when we brought him home on March 4th,  he weighed 4 lbs. 4 ounces.  He was tiny.  I remember I had this little pillow that someone had made for him and we used to put him on it and we would be so surprised that his whole body fit on it.  We used preemie nipples for quite a while and it was months and months that each time I fed him, I would write down exactly how much he ate.  Finally, when I told the pediatrician I was doing that he just told me stop it already LOL.

I'm just going to show some more pictures that I enjoy ;-)

 

6 1/2 months old

 

10 months old - His first Christmas.  I just love this picture.  He wasn't spoiled much as you can see LOL.

In the beginning of 1983, he had to have two operations to fix his problem and since then everything's been good.   

 

This was sometime after he was 12 months old but I'm thinking it must be an older picture, because I doubt I would have had him with no sleeves so it must have been summertime. 

Thanks for going down memory lane with me.  I've already forgotten so much since then. It's good to have it written for my own sake.  I still can't believe he's 28.

Birth Day

It seems so weird to me that 28 years to the day this all exactly happened.  I'm sure other birthdays have followed the same weekend pattern but I just never paid attention to it.  Must be because I have a blog now LOL.

All I remember is going into the operating room and waking up in the recovery room or in my room (it's fuzzy to both of us where I was at ).  We had a son born on Monday, February 22nd, at 3:44 a.m. He weighed 4 lbs.11 ounces and 17" long.  There was something wrong with him and he was going to be transferred to the childrens hospital.  They brought him in a covered bassinet so I could see him.  It seemed like it was  only 2 seconds and he was gone to another hospital which was about an hour away from where I was.  

I'm not going to say what was wrong but it was something I never heard of before.  We figured our son was in good hands and my husband went home to sleep because he had been up all weekend with me.  

A couple of hours after my husband went to sleep he received a call from the doctor that would be treating our son and he went down to talk to him.  The doctor even called me at the hospital that same day to explain things.  It turned out my son would need to have an operation to temporarily fix what was wrong and then when he was older it would be fixed permanently.  The doctor told us this would be only the second time he used this type of operation because the previous type of surgery didn't have as good a results.  It was comforting in some ways  because it seemed like there would be a better conclusion but yikes, only the second time he did it.

This is a picture of him when he was one day old.  It was taken with one of those old Polaroid cameras.

Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this story up tomorrow.

Eventful Weekend

This weekend in 1982, was very eventful for my husband and me. 

I was pregnant at the time and our child was to be born in the beginning of April. I had had two miscarriages previously.  The whole pregnancy I didn't feel well and in the beginning I had a little bit of bleeding but it had stopped.  At first, I had to stay off my feet a lot.  

On that Friday in February, I noticed some bleeding again, called the doctor and he sent us to the hospital to be checked and monitored. I stayed over night and they were going to release me the next day because it had subsided.  Before I was to leave, the monitor showed that I was starting to have contractions.  I was too early to have the baby so they gave me pills to try to stop the contractions and I wasn't able to keep them down.  Then they tried an IV but I started having trouble breathing.  Out with the IV.  It was decided that I was going to have the baby, WHAT??  

My husband and I had been to some Lamaze classes but hadn't finished them. The rest of Saturday wasn't so bad but Sunday the contractions got worse (at least to me).  We were exhausted by then.  They started giving me pain medication (pills).  I remember I felt kinda out of it, sleepy and extremely warm when I wasn't having contractions.  My husband kept getting me cool washcloths and putting them on my forehead.  The nurse kept trying to get me through the contractions.  I think the furthest I was dilating  was 4 centimeters.  

This is the kinda fuzzy part to me because I was doped up LOL.  It was some time during Sunday night things had changed.  Our son's  (which we didn't know at the time was a son) heart beat started to slow.  It was decided that I had to have an emergency C section.  All I remember was the next thing being pushed to the operating room and before going to sleep hearing them say "We have to hurry up or this baby is not going to make it".  I don't remember why but my regular doctor wasn't there.  I was going to have a doctor that I quit after having my two miscarriages because I didn't like him, oops.  

February 22nd is Washington's Birthday, it also was my in-laws Wedding Anniversary and it also was the same day our son was born.  

I'll tell you some more on Monday, his actual birthday, because there is more to tell.

Have a good weekend.

Friend

Happy Birthday 

Magellan!!!!

Your the best ;-)

Alphabe-Thursday

For the letter E I decided to go with Erie as in Lake Erie. Pictures courtesy of husband's fishing buddy.

 

It was named for the Erie tribe of Native Americans.

Lake Erie is surrounded by Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan.

We get lake effect snow until Erie freezes.

It's had its share of pollution in the water but over the years it's been cleaned up quite a bit.

 

During the summer, a lot of people go to Lake Erie for boating.  There are all kinds of boats on the lake. My husband goes fishing there with his buddy.  There are all kinds of fish but he fishes for Walleye and Perch.  He's probably one of the few fisherman that when he doesn't catch fish he doesn't mind.  He is entertained and enjoys just being on the water.  Quite a few years ago, he bought a small boat but has only used it a handful of times.  Circumstances always seem to prevent him from taking it out.

We live about twenty  minutes to a half hour from Lake Erie.  When I was a kid, we spent many a day there having picnics and swimming.  I don't have any pictures from then but we do have old movies of us being there with family and friends and we looked very enthusiastic.

While I love that we have the lake, I'm not much for boating.  I went once when I was young.  My aunt and uncle (who weren't really but they were my parents friends) had a recreation boat that we went on.  Then when my husband and I were dating his friend had a boat that we went on and stayed overnight.

When I woke up in the morning from sleeping on the boat, my eye was enormously swollen and closed up.  We had to hitchhike to a hospital and they said I had a spider bite.  Yuck!!  It was quite embarrassing. One of the rides we hitched was with two guys in a truck.  We noticed there were no keys in the ignition just wires.  They said they couldn't find the key.  I have a feeling we may have been riding in a stolen vehicle LOL.  Anyhow, I didn't do so well and got seasick. That pretty much ruined me from having any kind of love for boating.

Right now there is a big concern that Asian Carp might filter into Erie.  From what I've read about them, it wouldn't be good.  They are trying to figure out a way to avoid allowing this evil carp not to get into the lake because it would be very damaging.   Also, I've seen where they are jumping carp.  They can jump into a fishing boat or recreation boat and hit a person and hurt them.  Sounds nasty LOL.

Also, there is talk about putting wind turbines in Lake Erie. Right now I think they are going to be doing a study to see if it would have an adverse affect on the wild life.  I've read too that some think it would ruin the beauty of the lake.  So who knows.  I think it would be excellent though for the City of Cleveland.

 

E was hard.  I can't wait to see what others came up with. I know there will be some exceptional, extraordinary E words. So, go check on Alphabe-Thursday at Jenny's http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/02/alphabe-thursday-e.html

Olympics

I didn't want to get too far past the opening ceremonies of the Olympics without mentioning how much I enjoyed it.  It thought it was one of the best Opening Ceremonies I've ever seen.  Good job Canada.  You should be proud. 

I'm surprising myself by watching much more of the Olympics than I thought I would.  I've watched some events I've never seen.

Although I've been staying up late, not good for my sleeping but since the Olympics don't come around every year,  I figure it's worth it.

GO USA.

The balloon bouquet

On Friday, when we were sitting in the lounge area with Mom I noticed they seemed to be starting to pass out the balloon bouquets,  I thought they were getting them on Valentine's Day.  We waited for a while and then it was time to go because Mom was going to eat lunch.  We said our goodbyes.

Before we left, in the hallway the ladies were selling Valentine Day cards and I stopped to buy a couple.  As I was paying, my husband noticed that Mom was getting her balloon bouquet.  We went back in to see if Mom liked it and she did.  The girl put them in her room but we didn't go to see where she put them.   

When we went on Sunday, I was going to take a picture.  The mylar balloon was still standing tall but the three regular balloons were not.  Also, they were on the roommates dresser and not on Mom's.  Mom said that the girl had put the balloons on Mom's dresser with the TV and when the regular balloons started losing air the roommate told Mom she couldn't see the TV.  She then moved them to her dresser.  Mom didn't seem to mind.

We noticed about a week and a half ago, the tanks coming to the nursing home for the balloons.  I think they just inflated them too soon.  I decided on Monday when we went to take a picture of them anyhow.

 

I'm sure they looked great when all the balloons were flying in the air.  I don't know what happened to the little pink paper that was on them that was supposed to say,  "Happy Valentines Day.  We Love You"  with our names either.  You can see Mom's TV and dresser where they are supposed to be.

Dinner Friends

Last Wednesday, I went out with my Dinner Friends.  It was crummy weather when we went; snowy and windy.  We were celebrating Magellan's birthday.  I'm glad we didn't postpone it because you never know this time of year what it's going to be like; it could have been worse.   She picked the Outback.  Magellan and I didn't even get lost this time, although that could have been because we've been there before ;-)

Because of how crummy the weather was, I was expecting the restaurant to be empty of people but Holy Smokes it was packed. Everyone must have thought the same thing.

It was good to see everyone although two people couldn't show up.  It seemed like everyone had a good holiday and everyone's life was on an even keel for a change.

I had an excellent meal.  A salad with honey mustard dressing (I never had this kind of dressing and it was good), baked potato and spare ribs.  I used to when my son was home get the whole rack of ribs and take half of it home for him but I didn't this time.  We bought a bottle of White Zinfandel between 4 of us.  I usually don't get dessert but I ordered something to take home.  They had this desert called Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Pie with whipped cream and I just had to try it.

It wasn't snowing so much when we left, just kind of misty snow.

After I was home for a while, I made a cup of coffee and tried the pie, even though I was stuffed.  I barely finished it but somehow I managed.  It was very good.

I probably went to sleep about 11 and didn't wake up Thursday until after 8 a.m.  I still haven't been sleeping well but I slept like a log LOL.  I don't know if it was the wine or all that food I ate but I felt very rested. 

Random thoughts list

1.  I'm kind of like the official owner of mom's dog now.  I had to get a new license for Corky and put myself as the owner.  I didn't really want to do it but if he got lost, I needed for them to have my address.  I also decided I'm going to switch vets to where we used to take our dog.

2.  Snow, snow, snow.  It's getting to me.  I want spring to come but the way this year is flying by already, I guess I can wait.  It seems the older I get, the faster time goes.

3.  I really didn't have a team in the Super Bowl.  I watched the first quarter.  Then came back for the 4th quarter.  When I saw the Saints, who weren't expected to win were coming back, I started rooting for them.

4.  I don't know what happened this week but my schedule completely went by the wayside.

5.  Mom had a pretty good week so far.  They had some kind of entertainment - a banjo playing singer.  Sunday she will be getting her Valentine balloon bouquet.  They are going to be having a Mardi Gras party.

 

6.  The Olympics start tonight.  I will definitely watch the opening and closing ceremonies.  The rest I'm not sure.  I used to watch as much as I could of all the events but the last few times I haven't.  I'll probably watch the ice skating at least.

7.  I've been working on my knitting for Christmas.  I got quite a bit done already.  This is good because if something comes up and I can't work on it, I won't have to be concerned that I won't get it done.

8.  We're on the budget for our gas and electric.  With only being the two of us now, slowly our budget is coming down.  Yippee!!

9.  I've been trying to figure out how to schedule posts so they show up on their own - so far no luck.

10.  Have a good weekend and  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

If you don't see me on next week that means my computer bit the dust.  I spent over an hour or so trying to get online and get the computer working and finally did.  Who knows for how long.

Alphabe-Thursday

For letter D for Alphabe-Thursday, I decided to write about a discouraging, disagreeable, dreadful experience with doors.

In 2007, we decided to fix up the outside of our home.  We knew my husband would be retiring soon.  We were going to get a new roof, gutters,siding, front, back doors and new storm doors while we could still afford it.  I won't say the name of the store but let's just say it may rhyme with blows or may not.

Now I love this decorative cranberry colored door (the inside of the door is painted in a wood color)but it took at least two times for them to get it right. (It may have been more than two times but when the hard drive crashed I lost all the documentation) The first time there was damage of a big scratch on the door. 

The front storm door also had to be reordered.  There were little scratches on the aluminum.   When the second one finally arrived and was installed, I noticed there was a crack in the glass of the top window.  He was going to reorder another door. I thought we were doomed.  However, we had the original one that had the scratches and my husband suggested that perhaps he could just change the window from the other door.  We were delighted that he was able to that.

 

The back doors we decided to go with white (I'm still not sure that I like having different colors on the front and back but oh well).  What could be easier? Shouldn't be a problem right?  Oh contra ire. It was disastrous. The guy took the whole old frame and door out and then realized when he tried to put in the new frame and door, he originally measured wrong.  It was the right width but the wrong height.  He had to put the new wrong frame and door on since he wrecked our old one taking it out.  He then reordered the door.  The next time he brought the new door, it was the right height but the wrong width. Then he called up the store to see if they might have one in stock and they did. We were delighted until he went and got it. We noticed it was unpainted and instead of the slats being inside the double panes of glass they were on the outside.  The customer service guy tried to talk us into taking it, which we declined.

 

The only door that never had to be reordered again was the back storm door which dumbfounded us at the time.  It was suddenly a different feeling, until days later we did notice a slight flaw between the double windows which we called about.  Someone was suppose to come and look at it but never did.  We decided to just live with it because if we had to deal with their customer service one more time we would have just  disintegrated from despondency.    

Originally we ordered all these doors on July 20th, 2007. I found some old emails with some of these details because I think I blocked it from my memory LOL.  I did find an email that I had sent complaining that from the time we ordered the doors they still weren't done as of October 16th.  Can you imagine having to wait that long to get doors put in?  One time, I even mentioned I might call a TV Station we were so frustrated LOL.  If I didn't have to appear on TV, I probably would have.

So, needless to say, I've vowed never to buy anything from the nameless store that may rhyme with blows or may not that has to be ordered again.  They were just lucky that I didn't have a blog at that time because I wouldn't have been very delicate about my dismay.  The End.

I'm sorry this is such a downer, depressing post but I sure got a lot of D words.  Didn't I LOL?

Go over to Jenny's for more Alphabe-Thursday http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/02/alphabe-thursday-d.html

Social Media

Do you do Facebook or Twitter?  I don't.  Heck, I just started blogging not too long ago and didn't start out very good with it.

I know people do Myspace,  Facebook and now Twitter.  I've gotten a couple of invitations in the past to friend some people on Facebbok but I didn't want to.  I really have all I can do to keep up with the blog.  I know a lot of people connect with people from their high school but my feeling kinda is, if I didn't talk to them in high school why would I communicate with them now.

Twitter I really don't get.  People seem to really love it.  Although I know there are times like in a crisis people can get the word out fast.  I guess that is a good thing.

I am just behind the times or maybe it's just my fear of trying new things ;-).  Makes me wonder what the next new thing is that I won't be trying. Do you Facebbook or Twitter?  What is the appeal for you?

Survivor

Anyone watch?  I never watched the 1st Survivor but I've been hooked ever since.  Some seasons I like it some - not so much.  Usually who I want to win doesn't  LOL.

Last season, I really disliked Russel but then as it went on he grew on me and I started rooting for him.  I think maybe because he found all those immunity idols without any clues.  Of course, at the finale he was still kind of weird.

It starts on Thursday and I'm not sure how I'll like Heroes and Villains.  I haven't checked out yet whose all going to be on but I heard Russel will be there.  I don't see how he'll be able to get away with the same stuff from last season.

Seems to me when they had the all star season it wasn't that great.  I guess I'll see on Thursday.

1 down 12 or so to go

I finally stopped procrastinating and read a book over the weekend.


I like to read about women friendships - fiction. You know ahead of time pretty much that there will be certain types of the same characters in each book.  Although occasionally, a totally new type of character pops up which is always refreshing.

The book I chose was a sequel to a book I read probably about 2 years ago called, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.  I think part of the reason I picked the book was because most of the story took place in a yarn shop. I enjoyed the book very much until it came to the end.  I wasn't happy with the ending.

Then Kate Jacobs came out with Knit Two.  Since I enjoyed the first book except for the ending, I decided to ask for it for Christmas in 2009 with some trepidation.  I was hesitant to read this on Saturday because of my previous experience.  I decided to give it a try though.  I started around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and finished up around 10 p.m. Thanks to my husband, he went out and got pizza. I didn't even have to worry about what to eat LOL. As I was getting close to the end of the book something happened that I wasn't expecting and I thought "oh no, it's going to happen again I'm not going to like the ending".  Luckily, this time I was happy with the ending.  Whew!! 

I see she has another book out called Knit the Season which I will get but probably after I plow through some of the other books I have.  I'm about two books behind in another series of books I like.

I often wonder why I've chosen this genre to read but haven't figured it out yet.  What kind of books do you like to read and do you have a reason for reading them?

Random thoughts - list

 1.  Yesterday Corky went to get groomed.  The groomer called with a special deal and he hadn't had a bath in a while.  So he's fresh as a daisy now.

2. This weekend we don't have any big plans.  We will watch the Superbowl but I don't really have a favorite team.  I'll probably put something in the crock pot to eat.

3. Magellan (my friend) wants to go see the movie Dear John and asked me if I'd like to go.  I'm not sure if it will be over the weekend.  Gosh, it must be a few years since I went to an actual movie theater.  I can't even remember what I saw LOL.  I can only imagine how much the candy costs now.

4. Dinner friends is next week.  For some reason we didn't go last month.  I'm really looking forward to going and catching up with everyone. It's been too long. 

5. My cleaning schedule has been going so-so.  Monday through Thursday I stay on schedule (oh yeah) but on Fridays  I'm supposed to work in the kitchen and I just haven't been able to do it. I think I need to tweak the schedule so I do the kitchen on a day when I'm home all day.  Once I get a good day in, then it will just be a matter of keeping up.

6. This week has really not been a good week.  I think part of it's the weather (no sun); mom's had a couple of issues (not health wise); still no movement on selling her house although we have a couple of potential buyers some issues still have to be resolved; and this month I go to the oncologist for my 6 month check up (I always start getting anxious when it's time to go).  Hopefully, my mood will be improving sooner than later. 

7. My son's birthday will be coming up in February. 28 Wow!!

8.  At the nursing home for Valentine's Day, they had for $5 you could buy a balloon bouquet for the residents.  We bought one for mom.  I'm sure she's going to love it when she gets it on Valentine's Day.

9. Sometimes I wonder about myself.  I barely got done with my C post for Alphabe-Thursday and I was already trying to figure out what to do for D.  In fact, I wrote the whole alphabet out and am trying to come up with things for other letters.  Does that seem a little compulsive to anyone but me LOL?

10.  Hope you all have a good weekend.

Albhabe-Thursday

My letter C is for crafts.  I thought I had two boxes of craft stuff but I was wrong.  Thank goodness I'm wasting less than I thought.  I thought I'd show you some of them.

Years and years ago, I used to do counted cross stitch.  Then my eyes weren't so good and I stopped.  I bought two pictures for my bathroom.  One I completed but never put in a frame and the other one I got partially done and I have no idea why it is in a frame, but it isn't completed.  I don't know if I ever will.  I'm thinking I should probably just get the one I have done framed and hang it LOL.

 

 

Then here's a Christmas counted cross stitch I started and never finished.  I'm thinking of just ending it where it is and framing just the words.  I doubt I will complete the rest of this either.

 

Then there are a few counted cross stitch things that I've opened but never started.  If I showed you all of them you would never get done with this post.  

Awhile back I bought these angels to paint and wooden ornaments.  Never did.  If I want to do them, I have to buy new paint because they dried up.  Who knew if you didn't use it it would dry up ;-)

 

 

I also have these hearts I bought.  When my son was in 1st grade and I was room mother for Valentine's Day, I painted bigger hearts red and put the kids initials on them and put magnets on the back.  I think I must have bought these thinking I was going to do something with them for the following year and didn't end up using them. 

 

I think that was the year Magellan and I made these really cute mouse bookmarks for the kids. I don't have a picture of one that is finished but I found this. It's just the head part and the eyes are missing LOL.  Also by the top of the head should be a long white piece but I think you can get an idea of what it's supposed to look like.  I think kids would even enjoy making them.  Although it was a little hard to cut the felt but if someone cut the felt the kids could just glue it together.  

 

I think you've all seen that I have a lot of unfinished craft stuff and that's about all for my letter C. We won't even talk about the big hooked rug I was going to hang on a wall that's never been finished ;-)  Does anyone else have a lot of unfinished craft stuff in hopes of finishing them one day?

Now go over to Jenny's and see what others picked for their letter C.  There are some very creative people there posting.  Trust me you WON'T be disappointed if you go http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/02/alphabe-thursday-c_03.html

I don't know how to add the widget/gadget on my post.  Sorry Mrs. M

Callouses

That's a good name for a blog post huh LOL.  During the winter my feet are terribly calloused.  I suppose if I used some of those creams in the "eyesore" cupboard in the bathroom I might not have this problem so bad.

When we had the tub, I used to use a pumice stone which I think you might be able to see in the "eyesore" drawer.  However, since we put the walk in shower the pumice stone is not so easy to use.  Unless you want to fall down.

For a long time, I've seen this egg (you probably know what egg I'm talking about) advertised on TV-- for years in fact.  I looked it up on the internet to see what people said about it.  If they thought it really worked.  Most people thought it did.  I didn't want to buy it off the TV and we looked at a couple of places and couldn't find it.  Then one day my husband came home and surprised me and had found it. 

I was thrilled and then there it sat. For probably 6 months.  Sometimes I'm like that.  I want something and then it might take me years before I actually try it.  Side note:  I asked for a George Forman grill for Christmas one year and it took me two years before I used it.  I have some things I bought from pampered chef that I've still never used.  I think sometimes I might have a fear of trying new things.  Is there some kind of name for something like that LOL.

Well anyhow, I finally tried it and it worked great.  After I was done, I used some "eyesore" cupboard cream and my feet were a lot better.  A few more times and they should be good as new.  Now wasn't that interesting LOL.

Names

Do you like your name?  If you do, have you always liked it?  Do you go by your given name or a nickname?

Victoria is my real name.  Viki is my nickname.  No one ever called me Victoria except occasionally my father.  When I was younger I never cared for Victoria.  As I got older I learned to like Victoria but by that time everyone knew me as Viki.

Up until high school, I spelled Viki - Vickey.  Then when I was in high school I changed it to Viki.

Since my mother was in the hospital, rehab and nursing home and I deal with all her affairs when I have to sign papers I naturally sign it with my given/legal name.  Now when those people call me or I talk to them in person they call me Victoria because that's what they know me as.  I must say, every time some calls me Victoria it seems so strange and foreign to me.  In fact, I mentioned to the one nurse that calls me about things about Mom last week that she can call me Viki.

Does anyone have this problem?

H1N1

Remember when all everyone could talk about was the H1N1 virus?  What happened to that?  All of a sudden it's a non-issue.

I got the seasonal flu shot earlier at Walgreens.  Last weekend I got a computer call from Walgreens saying the H1N1 shots were available.  So I went last Monday to get one.

When I got the regular one, my arm hurt for about 3 days.  This one nothing.  I told my husband maybe they just stuck the needle in and didn't put anything in LOL.

I thought about not getting it but I want to make sure I don't ever bring anything into the nursing home.

Have you ever had the flu?  I only had it once as far as I remember. ( Unless I had it when I was a kid and blocked it from my memory)  I was supposed to meet my husband's family for the first time on Christmas.  I'll never forget how sick I was plus I had a big old cold sore on my lip.  Thank goodness, I had the flu because I couldn't imagine what kind of first impression I would have made with the big cold sore look LOL.

For some reason when I previewed this, it didn't leave spaces between the paragraphs.  I wrote this over the weekend and I've tried several times to double space it between so we'll see what happens when it's posted.  If there aren't spaces, anyone have any ideas on what happened?