So did you survive the holidaze?

We had a pleasant time of it, visiting with mom in the convalescent home. We exchanged gifts and ate some. The nurses and staff performed a chorus of holiday music which everyone enjoyed. My daughter and SIL brought the grandchildren and that lifted everyone's spirits...a two year old just enjoys the whole world as long as there are toys to be played with and gifts to open; and a 3 month old enjoys the world as long as that bottle is coming her way! Mom's spirits are good. She will stay for a while as she gets stronger and heals. The Florida trip has been canceled, but I will be enjoying time here with friends. Today I go to the Poconos for an overnight trip with my son. I have a friend who rents a house up there and every year I go up to enjoy the ambiance. I used to ski, but the knee is still talking to me and saying stuff I can't write here for fear of offending someone. That's OK, however. There is much to do up there and the sights...with the deer and the snow...suits my spiritual nature, so I'm happy. Looking forward to reading your entries this coming week. I know I am behind, but I also know that all of you good people understand my absence. Be well, take care...

Big Hugs to All!

A hug, a big big hug, to you! Here's hoping you have a wonderful time with family this coming week, and an equally wonderful time with friends, too. Mom has been relocated to a nursing home for rehab. Once the PT and OT assess her, we will know how long she stays. Her roommate seems nice, but Mom prefers privacy and does not like to talk much and likes to have the TV on all day and night, and there is only one TV. So we may have her moved to a private suite which will cost out-of-pocket. We are taking it day-by-day. My Florida trip is on hold, a decision will be made on Dec 30th which gives us another 9 days to see how mom is faring. I could use a week of golf right about now, but I can get it in February, as well. As my big sister says, "So where's the lemonade? Aren't we supposed to have lemonade with all these lemons?" I liked that one.

Update on Mom

Typical of the past few weeks' sleep pattern, I am awake at 3:00AM and flaundering around looking for something mindless to do. Not that blogging is mindless. In fact, I am somewhat surprised that I can write, let alone think, coherently.

Mom has been re-hospitalized for a week now. Many tests have been taken but the results show nothing. She is a medical phenomenon. What brought her in this time around is the hand. I can't call it an injury to the hand because when it blew up the way it did, she was simply doing nothing. The docs and nurses all agree that it doesn't take much, just a simple wisp of something against the skin, to cause this kind of injury...that's how tissue thin Mom's hand it. Check this out:

Notice the manicure and the jewelry...

Anyhow, the hand was twice the size of these pictures when I brought her in last Sunday. Now she has to go to a rehab facility in order to learn to manage herself. She has an aide,who will probably leave us for other work since Mom will be in rehap for a month and not in need of an aide until she is discharged. That is not good news. Finding a good, competant, audible, coherent non-medical aide is like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.

A heartfelt (right hand touching my heart) thank you to all for the prayers and well wishes. You know how powerful prayer is and I am grateful for the healing energy that is sent my way.

Just a post to say that mom is back in the hospital. I will post when the time and energy permits.

Knitting blankets for the needy

I volunteer with a group of ladies who knit blankets and give them to those in need. I do my part in the knitting, stitching together knitted squares, and delivering blankets to shelters, hospitals, and family services where they are distributed accordingly.

I started the group seven years ago. It was going well, but not well enough in my opinion, so I asked a respected member of the community to help out. She took leadership and boy, oh boy, did she ever do a bang up job. Today we have more knitters than we can count because the group has spread into the community. Volunteers at local hospitals have joined us, sending their knitted squares to my Aunt who organized a group in her apartment building. She gives me a bag of enough knitted squares for two or three blankets! We don't even know anymore who is doing the knitting, the process has gone out of our hands.

Note the squares...once the knitted squares are gathered at our monthly meeting, we choose a theme and stitch the squares together. It is time consuming as everyone has an opinion on what color goes with what theme, but it is fun. This blanket was stitched together but only in portions. We had to do some fancy foot work to get a reasonable theme. Given the effort, it turned out OK. We had just enough squares in this color theme to pull it off and then we notice we were shy two squares and tried to match with the pink. It is a challenge. It takes 36 squares to make a blanket.This blanket was made by one person who chose to change the pattern. It satisfies the specifications, however...36" by 36"...or there abouts.

We plan to deliver twenty blankets tomorrow, but I will not be going. I will be busy bringing mom home from the hospital (after an 8 day stay) and settling her in for a cozy weekend at home. Yea!

My sister and her dog, Philly. It is a brisk day in Pennsylvania and I just returned from walking the dogs. Philly, my sister's dog, is staying with me while my sister spends the remaining visiting days, here from Virginia, with her husband who came up to get her. Surprisingly, the dogs continue to get along and walking them is harmonious. It has not been as joyful a week as we had hoped. Mom had a bronchial asthmatic attack that sent her to the hospital. She has been there since Wednesday and the doctors are not sending her home until her heart stabilizes. She hates hospitals! In March, when she was in she wanted out within two days. This time she is welcoming the visit. She even thanked me for taking control of the situation and insisting that 911 be called to take her in. This is not a good sign. I try to remain cheerful, hence last night's post and this morning's cartoon keeps me in that crazy place...for the time being. Late at night when I try to sleep is when the thoughts go awry. I can't read because I can't concentrate, I knit while in the hospital so I don't care to do that, I play mindlessly on the Internet, and cry. Crying is healing. Thanks to Joyce for this cartoon...little did she know at the time...

In Response to Spaghetti Cat (Beth's Entry at Nutwood Junction)

Hey Beth ...bet your spaghetti cat can't do this! Lovingly submitted...

Just a quick hello

Well, Thanksgiving feast has come and gone and I am still stuffed! The dinner, with all the great grandchildren running around the apartment, was a success. Mom loved the attention and the noise and seeing the family together. I, on the other hand, am exhausted; but happily so. My big sister is visiting with me for the week. She brought her chocolate lab, Philly, and, fortunately, the two dogs are getting along. This wasn't the case the last time her dog came to visit. Sheba had such a hissy fit with territorial boundaries that Sheba either growled, barked, peed or pooped inside the house. Thank goodness this isn't the case this time around! I called and wrote to CBS3 Consumer Relations program...this is the local network who blows the whistle on business who are scamming customers. You may remember how I got charged a restocking fee by Best Buy because I opened a closed package with a digital camera I bought, and then returned it because I didn't like the camera. Anyway, they said they are getting lots of complaints but can not do anything about it because Best Buy has covered their rears with all kinds of legal policies protecting themselves in writing on the back of receipts. Darn! So how is everybody faring with the next holiday just around the corner? My shopping is done. It is easy when the grown kids ask for gift cerficates and the babies are too little to care, but the parents are touched. The biggest problem is what to get my boyfriend. He has everything! And what he wants, I can't afford. Until next time...