Lazy Daze

My days have seemed lazy lately. I've been doing a lot of reading, working with photos and files on the computer, photographing things outside, a little bit of sewing, and organizing things. I've cooked with my husband (which we used to do a long time ago when we first were married).

I've been waking up very early lately, too. Day before yesterday, I woke up at 3 am and yesterday I woke at around 5:30 so I headed outside with my camera when I saw this fog (as in the photo above). It was beautiful and I got a lot of soft photos. The one above is one of my favorites. It has the warm, fall colors in it with the hay bale and the mist.

I've been feeling a little low lately, probably because the holidays are approaching and this will be the first Thanksgiving and Christmas without my mother here. I want to draw close to my family but they're all so busy. At least we can keep in touch through all this technology. I love them all.

Dolly Park

I'm back from Tennessee. The four of us had a wonderful time although I hated my oldest daughter did not get to be with us at "Dolly Park", as Paige called it. The above photo shows how beautiful the lights were there.

Paige was CRAZY about Dolly Parton. We went into her museum on the park and we could NOT get her out of there! She loved looking at her clothes, shoes, photographs, musical instruments, listening to her music, etc. She wanted to go to Dolly's house!

It was a good visit with Erin, too. We spent the night with her the first night and had a great time. Then we rode from Nashville to the Sevierville/Pigeon Forge area. Erin had a gift show to attend while we went to Dolly Park. Then we were able to shop some, eat out and enjoy some more time with all of us together. I love my girls. :)

Brother Bob's Birthday!

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. His wife, sister, my husband and I met for lunch to celebrate. Above are the siblings:)

Brother Bob and wife, Kay:)

Brother Bob and Moi :)

My Favorite Little Girl

Today I took Paige to "school" and then while we were waiting to go to swimming lessons, we stopped by the library. In a field across from the library was a little garden and a creek.

She was so funny because she asked me if I had my camera with me. I said yes. Then she said, "will you take a picture of me, bearbear?" I loved it!! So she posed sitting on a big rock in front of the creek. Cute:) Gotta love that little girl. She was so sweet today.

Chillin'

This girl knows how to chill in her Paw Paw's chair!

A Special Day!!

Today is my only brother's birthday. My husband and I met him at The Cracker Barrel for a brunch celebration. Above he is pictured in the parking lot with his new truck. Like it!

This morning when I woke up at 5 am (which is VERY unusual for me!), I got on the computer to try to find coupons for The Cracker Barrel. As I was looking around, I saw that forty years ago today (September 19, 1969), the first Cracker Barrel opened in Lebanon, TN. What a coincidence!

Happy Birthday, Craig! I love you!

Strange Photo!

Is this not the strangest photo you've ever seen?!? ha!

I went to help my daughter today. She's been a little under the weather and I helped her clean out her room she's trying to make into an office so it can be painted and refurbished. The walls have already been primed and we cleaned it up enough so that the baseboard can be finished and we can paint.

While we were cleaning and going through things in there, we came across a couple of cameras. One was a digital camera that used the same card as mine and since my daughter's digital camera used a different type card, she gave it to me. Naturally, curiosity was getting the best of me so almost as soon as I got home (after I unloaded the car), I put this card into the computer and there were 27 pics on there. Some were from a cruise they went on back in 2005 and this particular photo above was the strangest-looking photo! I don't know what happened but it reminds me of one of those children's books where you have three columns and you can change the top, middle and bottom to get a different picture. haha! The rest of the photos were ok.

We got a lot accomplished and I'm tired but it's a good tired of knowing that I helped someone today and they appreciated it. :)

Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes

New Cast - first one, thought was wet and when they took it off, she had a rash. Dr. thought she might have had an allergic reaction to the synthetic wrapping. They put on new cotton wrapping and new cast. This one will come off by Monday to check the rash and a THIRD cast! ha! Autograph party still going on!

HEAD

SHOULDERS

KNEES

TOES
I love every little part of her!!

Going To NashBille!

I'm getting very excited about going to NashBille! This is what Paige calls it. She told her Paw Paw today that she and Bear Bear went to NashBille today and we saw Brown, and we went just for the day! ha! We didn't see Aunt Erin and/or Uncle Chris (pictured above), just Brown. Brown is their chocolate lab. I don't know where she got this!

Maybe she's just as excited as I am! We haven't been in a long time and we are all looking forward to it. I will try to get more photos than I usually do when I'm up there.

I know the guys will probably play golf and the girls will find something entertaining to do. We can ALWAYS go shopping!! We talked about going to a water park up there but now that she has a cast, that's out. We might find a kids' science center or something like that to go to that's nice and cool and something to do on the inside.

As far as our day went today, Paw Paw did play golf (of course!) and I was trying to find something entertaining for Paige and me to do so we went to the movies. It all turned out ok but the original plan was changed a little. Paige's mommy called and said she had an appointment to get her cast taken off and a new one on because they thought the first one might be wet.

I still thought we had time to see the movie that I'd already gotten tickets for so we go on to the movie and as it turns out, the sound is so blasting loud that it just scared her. The original movie I wanted to take her to see was Ice Age and she saw the posters out front and said she wanted to see the "rat movie", that she liked "rats". It was a movie called G Force with Gerbils in it. We didn't last 5 minutes in that movie so we just moved to Ice Age and stayed until time to go to the orthopaedic doctor's office to get the new cast. But as it turned out, it was the same time that the "scary" part started on the movie for her so it all worked out ok.
We had our popcorn and drink and had a good time anyway. I really enjoyed her today and am looking forward to being with all my "peeps" this weekend. :)

Bear Bear's Autograph!

Oh, poor Bear Bear. She wanted to be the first one to sign Paige - ee's cast :( but didn't get to be first. But she saved me (and Paw Paw a good spot)! ha! When this photo was taken, Paw Paw hadn't signed it yet. I'll have to get a photo of that!

Never in my life did I think I would be signing a cast of my grandchild, especially at two years old! (Knock on wood) neither of my children have ever had a broken bone, nor I nor my husband.

But she just keeps on truckin' like nothing's happened. :) Her mommy says it'll probably have to stay on for about three weeks and then she might have to have a little physical therapy and, hopefully, everything will be fine. And right before her 3rd birthday!

The Skydiver!

It seems my granddaughter has a new hobby - skydiving from the steps going up to the slide!

She fell early last night from the ladder going up to the slide. Her mommy took her to the ER and they took xrays, put a splint on it and she did get to talk to an orthopaedic doctor who suggested she call tomorrow morning to come in for a look. She probably will get a cast.

This morning I got a call from her mommy asking if I'd like to go to Target with them as a fun day just for Paige since she hurt her arm. I said I'd love to!
So off we go. But before I left, I cooked our nighttime meal (theirs and ours) and took it with me when we went to their house to visit and see how she was doing. It was the first time I've cooked since around April 28th!

You see, I have this wonderful husband. He has cooked every meal (or either we have eaten leftovers from what he cooked or have eaten out) every night since then.

Anyway, we went to Target and no other place. We stayed in Target about 3 or 4 hours! Paige did NOT let this "bad arm", as she called it, stop her one bit. She just kept on truckin'. She had a blast playing and looking at toys, trying on boots and shoes (some of them all by herself with one arm and ones that zipped!). She ran and sang and was so happy. And she behaved like a happy child. She didn't whine and cry and feel sorry for herself. She was just wonderful. Do I need to sing her praises more (as a grandmother naturally would!)? ha!

I guess I just expected her to be pitiful but neither she nor her mother were pitiful at all. They were wonderful and uplifting to be with and helped my spirits. I am very tired but I thoroughly enjoyed my day!

Our Mother

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on here. I didn't mean to leave it for so long but my priority in my life above everything else since the last post of June 8 was my mother.

My brother and I took her to the ER on the night of April 28. We sat up all night with her watching the doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists and others try to get her to the point that she could go to ICU. Finally we did and she stayed there about a week. Then they put her in a regular room on the floor. From that point on, she was in and out of a nursing home, hospitalized three times, and we were almost at a loss as to what to do next. We met with a Hospice nurse to see what they had to offer, talked to Mama and just respected her wishes to go home.

At home, she had round the clock home health care and Hospice nurses and other staff services plus all we could do for her. Round the clock care was very expensive and didn't know for sure what we would do when the money ran out (which wouldn't last but just a few months), but were determined to let her stay at home as long as we could.

We got to the point that we were just living day to day with this and, sometimes, minute to minute. Many days, I didn't even take a bath and was more concerned about my mother getting a bath than me. My complete focus was on my mother from the time I woke up until I went to bed at night. Make-up, jewelry, nice clothing, etc. went out the window. I did just try to stay clean with clean clothes, brushed my teeth but a lot of times only took a bath and washed my hair every other day, being more concerned about her bath and clean hair.

At the end, I spent the night with her in the hospital right before she came home and then on her couch at her house. We were with her constantly as much as we could be because she wanted her family with her.

She died on Thursday night sometime between 10 and 11 pm CST on June 11 but they put her death date as officially on Friday, June 12 because of documentation, flushing drugs, etc. Her funeral service was on Monday, June 15 at 3:00 pm CST with visitation right before the service from 1:30 until 3:00. There was a huge crowd that showed up and her service, I thought, was just perfect in every way, just as she would have wanted.

Now we have the task ahead of going through all her things in her house and deciding who keeps what, etc., then clean it all up, roof the house, and get it ready for sale.

This has been an experience for me that I've never had before in this way and I wanted to document it for my 60th year blog but realize I could almost write a book about all that went on with her for the past six or seven months or even the last six days that she lived or the last five years that she lived here close to us.

She was a wonderful mother. Yesterday, the 19th, was her birthday and she would have been 82 years old. I learned so much from her and probably still have much more to learn from the example of her life. In one way, I will miss her terribly and in another, I will always have her close. I loved her so much and still do.

Missing Photos with Posts

These times are just too busy taking care of things for my mother to post any photos and not much text. She comes first and I love her very much.

Happy Birthday Erin!!

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday. I did get to be with her briefly today as they were coming back from the beach to go home to Tennessee. So Happy Birthday, Erin!! I love you, love you, love you and hope you have many, many more!!

My Bike, My Closet and My Mother!

This is my bike and I started riding it again this morning. My plans were to ride my bike early, then eat a sensible, good breakfast and get to work on my closet. It is horrible. I can't even walk in there. I did take pictures and I will post them here when I am through (before and after) but I am still working on it!! I have tried on every pair of pants that were in that closet. After I did, I was glad I started riding my bike! ha!

I've weeded through shoes, bags, pants, shorts, books, and everything that was on the floor. I've vacuumed and cleaned up stains. I've cleaned all shelves except the very top ones. So all I have left are the top shelves, skirt/dresses/jackets and tops but that will take a while. This is some job but I'll be so happy with it when I'm through.

I did not go visit my mother today but just talked to her on the phone. She is finally in a room where she is happy with everything, her position next to the AC, her roommate, closer to the bathroom, windows and she got a shampoo, haircut and blow dry today. I put a TV in there for her until we can get her cable hooked up now that we're pretty sure she's happy and in the room she wants to be in. She will have an evaluation on the 25th that we'll attend to see what kind of status they give us on her. I will take her to the doctor on Friday to have her eyes examined and new glasses so she can see better. It's been years since she's done that.

You know the expression, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"? I think we all got happy today! Hallelujah! ha!

Mother's Day

Had a busy but good Mother's Day. Went to visit my 3 yr. old great niece in the hospital this morning in place of church, then on to have lunch with my husband's family, youngest daughter, her husband and my granddaughter, then to rehab to visit my mother. Came home and got a call from my oldest daughter who lives out of town. So it was a busy but pleasant day.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Mother's Day today.

Peace

Before I left home today, this bloom just spoke to me and I grabbed my camera. This is a bloom we have on our peace lily (or at least that's what I've heard this houseplant called around here). That's what I wanted this morning was peace. It's a beautiful bloom and I wanted to post a very close photo of it on here for everyone to enjoy.

My mother was moved this afternoon to a rehab/nursing type facility. It's emotionally a big change in life but I just keep telling myself to take this one day at a time. Thank goodness I have other family to talk to and share this with them. I feel a growing period coming for me:)

Flooding and Crossword Puzzles

We are flooding, flooding, flooding in this area. No photos though. My camera may be getting rusty!

My mother is very much improved and may possibly move from the hospital to rehab tomorrow. If not tomorrow, maybe Monday. They will not move her on a weekend. Tomorrow I will probably help her with crossword puzzles. Some of her medication is making her hands too shaky to write plus she needs to go for an eye exam. My brother suggested that maybe I could just read to her the hints and she can figure out the answers, I'll write them down and we'll just work crossword puzzles together. Good idea. That should be fun. It's one of her favorite things to do.

Stress is slowly melting away. I picked up my camera and couldn't resist to start with photos again so here is just a photo of a crossword puzzle book - sort of an "icon" for the day tomorrow. Nothing exciting but it is a photo!

More Documentation

Had a setback today, some sort of infection but haven't been told what kind so this will delay her transferring to rehab. Both sisters have gone back home so it's me and my brother. He has a lot of her business to take care of and has a job so I'm going to the hospital and staying with her all day. I did have a break today at lunch to eat with Emily and Paige which was fun. Emily was so sweet and bought my lunch. Thank you, Em:) And thanks for the listening ear. Tomorrow will be the same. She might get to leave by Fri or Monday.

Emotions

Emotions are really coming into play now. I am very touched by all of your comments here and your true expressions of caring about me and my mother and my family. I'm having a tough time praying so I'm glad you are praying for us. But this is just a stage in life that most people have to go thru and we're all trying to get thru it the best we know how. Still no photos. Just wake up, go to hospital, come home, go to bed, repeat.