Tired of This!!

Okay, I'm tired of all this "illness" on my part. I know that having a tooth pulled isn't an illness, and neither is shoulder surgery, but I'm darn tired of being laid up! I told Dave I wasn't taking any more pain pills - I felt they were making me feel queasy - so I haven't had one since this morning. I am supposed to eat protein to heal, but it has to be soft, so this morning Dave fixed me 2 eggs scrambled. I was still hungry, so I ate 2 more eggs scrambled!! Good for my teeth, bad for my cholesteral - which should I worry about!!!???

By the way, Happy Halloween! I guess I should have said that first. As I'm typing this, there are a bunch of beggars running around and a bunch of cars taking kids over to Vogel. A friend over there said that she prepares for 800 beggars! We're lucky to have 20! We've had one already...the little girl whose grandma lives just north of us came over. She's 3 and she was the cutest witch I've ever seen!! I'm thinking I'll just leave our lights off, then maybe they won't come here - sounds like something Scrooge would do, but that's a different holiday!!

Since I haven't been out and about, I'm a little short on news. Tomorrow we're going to Libertyville to church. They are re-dedicating the stained glass that we purchased for our mom's memorial...I think Bob & Ann will go too, but I'm not sure. More later...

I'm Alive and It's Over!!!

Ok, I'm alive, the tooth is gone, and I'm on the road to recovery! I just wish I could have a sandwich! Dave is taking his "Nurse Nancy" duties seriously. He's got my pain pills scheduled and on a list - he's even going to get me up at 12:30 to take one! He won't let me have anything to eat except what's on the list - so far today I've had a pudding cup, applesauce cup, a dish of ice cream, a jello cup, a protein shake and 3 big glasses of water!

I've been asleep since 10:00 this morning! I'm finally not numb and I'm not in any pain so far.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!!

Tomorrow's D-Day for my wisdom tooth. This time, I'll have to have it done. The Doctor gave me one tranquilizer to take 1 1/2 hours before I get there...no breakfast, nothing to drink except to take that pill. So, I have physical therapy at 8:00 (for 45 min. to 1 hour), take my pill at 8:30, and then have to be at Dr. Pasqual's at 9:50...my appointment is at 10:00. Then it'll be night, night, Bonzo! I'll probably sleep all day, knowing me! I don't handle anesthesia well - it just knocks me out for hours. In fact, more than an hour after my appendectomy in 1966, mom was on one side of me "slapping" my wrist and dad was on the other side doing the same thing, trying to waken me! After my gall bladder surgery, I slept for about 20 hours...and after my shoulder surgery, I basically slept all day and all night. For some reason it takes about 24 hours for that crap to get out of my system, so I'm hoping to catch up on my sleep tomorrow.

My friend, Karen, got good news today. She had a portion of her colon removed and some lymph nodes just recently. The oncologist told her she wouldn't need chemo!! Thank you, Lord! I've been so worried about her. She is a dear friend.

Today it was absolutely pouring outside...we had almost 2" of rain by about 2:00 PM...and it's raining again this evening! Anyway, I drove to Fairfield to see Aunt Helen in this deluge! There were 2-3 times I thought maybe I should pull off the road because it was raining so hard, but I didn't. She was awake when I got there. She had slid all the way down in the bed and to her left to where her head was against the railing, so the aides came in to move her. She was talkative today, but I thought she was weaker. I hadn't been there but about half an hour when she dismissed me! She said, "I think I'll go to sleep now!" So I told her goodbye and came home. She's been drinking apple juice...in fact, today the aide gave her a drink of water and she told her she didn't want that, she wanted apple juice! They told me that she's getting pretty de-hydrated now. She hasn't eaten much of anything for several days and is just living on apple juice and some water! I feel so bad for her!

Temporary Reprieve!

Ok - so call me chicken!! I got to the oral surgeon's office and had tears in my eyes, so he suggested we do this with anesthesia (putting me out!). So now I go back Friday morning for the "surgery". He said he'd just pull the tooth - no surgery to it, but since I was so scared this would be the best way to go. Probably, knowing me and anesthesia, I'll be out all day Friday!!

At physical therapy this morning, Amy added a 1# weight to my armlifts - all of them! So tonight my right arm feels like it weights about 100 pounds! I'm going upstairs to do my exercises for tonight, but the way my arm feels, I can't imagine being able to lift it over my head!

Stay tuned....

Intrepidation.....

Ok, I have to admit, I'm a little freaked out tonight. I have to have a wisdom tooth pulled tomorrow and I'm NOT looking forward to it! I'm a BIG chicken when it comes to dentists!! My appointment is at 3:00 with an oral surgeon and Dave's coming home to take me - I'm glad! He's NOT as re-assuring as my dad was when I had to go to the doctor, though! I hated the doctor when I was a kid! If I had to have a shot, my dad would make me concentrate on his ruby ring and then it wasn't quite so bad! First of all, Dave wouldn't stay in the dentist's office with me (he's got a weak stomach!) and secondly, I don't think this oral surgeon would let him anyway! I'm sure it will be okay, but for now I'm nervous and not looking forward to it!!

I had a good day today. I got some fabric cut out for my secret sister's quilt. Cutting fabric isn't as easy as it was before my surgery! But I got it done! Then I paid some bills tonight and I'm watching Dancing With the Stars, the Results. I can't believe people vote for people just because they like them! There's no way Michael or Louie should still be on the show - especially since Natalie and Melissa were voted off! I think the judges' votes should carry more weight than the public vote. But then, who am I?

A Busy Monday

Here are some more beautiful trees in Ottumwa. I just can't believe how pretty they have been this year. This first tree is in the cemetery - one of my favorite places to take pictures. Whoever was in charge of planting these beautiful trees did a wonderful job. This is my favorite tree in Ottumwa - at the corner of Vanness and Court. It has so much luminosity to it! You've seen it before and you'll probably see it again!

This was a physical therapy day. I had a new PTA and I hope I don't have her again. I could have stretched my shoulder as much by myself. In fact, I wasn't even in there for 45 minutes, and that included 10 minutes of icing and about 30 minutes of exercising - which I do on my own! I couldn't get Amy today and Michelle called in with sick children, so I had a sub. I should have Amy on both Wednesday and Friday this week. I'll be glad to get her again since I haven't had her since last Thursday.

After PT, I went to Fairfield to see Aunt Helen. She wasn't very good today. She's very weak. They told me she hadn't eated all day but that she had drunk 4 glasses of water. They changed her position while I was there - it's so sad to hear her moan and say, "You're hurting me!" Once they got her over on her back again, though, she was wide awake and pretty good for about 15 minutes. Then she just wanted to rest.

Tonight Dave had a Habitat for Humanity meeting, so I got to watch Dancing With The Stars. It was really good tonight. I thought all of the couples did a good job. Unfortunately, there's to be a double elimination tomorrow night so hopefully the right people will go. I definitely think Michael Irving and Louie (the snowboarder) should be the ones to go this time, but you just never know how the public will vote. I guess I'll have to tune in tomorrow night! I sure do enjoy this TV show!

Super Sunday!

Another gorgeous fall day in Iowa! The sun was shining for a lot of the day, it got up to 60 degrees, and I got to spend the day with my wonderful husband! We went to church this morning. The pews were a little empty today. It could be because there was no choir so it seemed empty without them in the choir loft or it could be the flu has hit our church. There were several people coughing and blowing their noses. I had suggested we do "knuckle-bumps" or "elbow-bumps" instead of shaking hands today to try to prevent illness. It was well received! Especially when people heard others coughing!!

Dave and I then went to Wallyworld (WalMart) to get groceries, gas, and miscellaneous items. Since they remodeled our WalMart, they have cut back on inventory in the fabric and craft sections particularly. I didn't find several things I needed to make this bag I'm wanting to make. I guess I'll have to go online to shop! After shopping, we came home and ate lunch, then sat down to watch the race. Our guys fared pretty well. Jimmy got 2nd and Jeff got 5th. I'm not a fan of short-track races, so after watching 197 laps with 8 caution flags, I fell asleep but woke up in time to see that last 15 laps. Next week's Talladega, so it'll be a fun race!!

Before we took our naps, we put our leftover ribs in the oven with a little water and cooked them on low for another couple of hours...boy were they good!!! They fell off the bones and I could eat them with a fork instead of getting my hands messy. Much better that way in my opinion.

My brother called this evening. He and Ann had been over to see Aunt Helen. She was having another relatively good day. She's having pain in her legs, so she's not getting out of bed. Bob had also attended his 50th high school class reunion this weekend, so he was telling me who all was there and who wasn't. He said out of 124 classmates, they had had 21 deaths. I think that's pretty good. These people are 69 and 70 now! I'm pretty sure we've had 20 deaths in our class and we're 7-8 years younger! Anyway he had a good time and that's the important thing!

I've got a busy week coming up so more later!

The Sun Was Out Today!!

Today was another beautiful day! We actually had sunshine! It was still a little cool, but when the sun is shining, who cares!

We slept in this morning - even Dave didn't get up until close to 7:30! Do you suppose it had anything to do with the Bailey's I had last night? I know I didn't wake up all night - it was great! About 9:00, while I was reading the paper, our adopted daughter (not really) Amanda, called from Las Vegas. She was wound up! She had had a dream with me in it and she wanted to share it with me. She's so funny. After talking to Amanda, I went to Fairfield to see Aunt Helen. She was having a good day! She knew who I was as soon as I said, "Hi Aunt Helen." She visited with me for about an hour before I thought she was getting very tired. She was very animated - I asked her if she'd ever seen a moose. She smiled, and told me how one had wondered in near their home in Minnesota and how she had jumped in the car to go tell Helen Olsen and Mrs Andersen (her neighbors) so they could see him too. Then she talked about Mrs.. Andersen - said she was quite old at the time and it wasn't long after that that she moved back east to be near her daughter. We had quite a visit!!

Then, when I got back to my car, the Cyclone game was still on with about 11 minutes left. I enjoyed listening to it all the way back to Ottumwa. When I got home, there was about 1 minute left, we had the ball, and the score was 9-7 in OUR favor...Cyclones win!! We beat Nebraska! Kyle said we could! And we did it without our normal quarterback or our normal running back! Our defense played a wonderful game - Nebraska had 8 turnovers! We don't beat Nebraska often, so it was quite a thrill! Unfortunately, one of our starters broke a leg in the first half, and Coach Rhoades said he had a bunch of sick players who were puking all over, but they didn't give up! He was so excited!

The only bummer of the day was that Kaylee's soccer team got beat 2-0. They also are playing hurt - their goalie is out, the #2 goalie is sick, as are several others. They have had a good season, though - 14-2-2. Kaylee ended up 2nd in goals scored and in the top 4 in all other categories. I don't know if they have a conference tournament at this point, but I hope they don't have to end their season with a 2-0 loss! More later!

Happy Friday

Here are a couple more Christmas cards that I've made. I won't be mass-producing this one, I can tell you that - it is way too time-consuming. I love the card, but coloring those little areas isn't for me - at least until after my shoulder is ALL better! Maybe then I'll be able to do it better. The stamps are from Stampin' Up and I used a watercolor technique to color them. Now this card may be one that I mass-produce! It is relatively easy and delivers a big bang for my time! Again the stamp is from Stampin' Up - it is called Dasher! The papers are also from Stampin' Up's new in-colors. You can't see it here, but there is embossing powder over the entire white section so it literally glistens. I think it's a cool card.

I also wanted to share some more of God's beauty today. This is one of the trees in our cemetery. Isn't it just beautiful!?!

This is a zoom shot of the tree at the corner of Vanness and Court in Ottumwa. This tree takes a while to turn colors, but once it does it is just gorgeous. In about 2 days time, it went from green with a few red leaves to this beautiiful gold and red. I wish I could somehow spray-glue all the leaves on this tree so they'd stay just as pretty as they are now.

I had such a fun day today! I went to physical therapy this morning and then met two friends for lunch. One of my friends, Fran, lives in Boone and was here visiting another of my friends, Jean Ann. It is such a small world. Fran didn't know that I knew Jean Ann and Jean Ann didn't know that I knew Fran AND I didn't know they knew each other!! What a fun time we had at lunch - they are both beautiful women!

Tonight we went to the Club with Sudi and Howard for ribs. The ribs were good, the company was great, and the new drink I discovered was superb! I was so chilled when we got into the Club that I wanted a hot drink, so I ordered coffee with "something" in it. Howard & Sudi both suggested Bailey's Irish Cream - it was so good I could have drunk it alone, without the coffee! After dinner and lots of conversation, we came to our house and played cards. I was the biggest loser tonight! Oh well, maybe next time!

Trees - beautiful trees!

Yesterday while I was out and about, I drove around Ottumwa and took some pictures of the beautiful trees. I'm not sure I've ever seen them so vibrant as they are this year. I hope you enjoy them. This one almost looks transparent - it's in the cemetery near our home. This is our tree! It's a maple in our front yard. It usually loses its leaves long before others in the neighborhood do, but this year it is beautiful! If you were to pick up one of the leaves, you would find that it is red, orange, yellow, and green - just gorgeous!

Today these trees don't look so beautiful. It has rained all day AND the wind has blown 20-30 mph, so the trees don't have quite as many leaves on them as they did yesterday.

My great-niece, Kaylee, is 19 today. She's such a beautiful young woman and I'm so proud of her. I have really been blessed in my life. I have 3 beautiful nieces and they all have wonderful, smart, talented kids! It's probably a good thing that I didn't have any biological children as I would have had trouble having kids as good as Bob's! Mine would probably have been ornery as dirt! Anyway, I feel very fortunate, as I'm sure my brother does also. This is the card I made for Kaylee. I scanned the card, and the colors aren't quite right. The green is a chartreuse and

the brownish color you're seeing isn't there at all...it's because the scanner door wouldn't close all the way because of the brad in the center of the flower! Isn't technology grand? The stamps are all Stampin' Up. These are the colors in her room! Her walls are chartreuse and her accents are black and white! I sure hope she likes it!

Beautiful fall day!

Today was an absolutely beautiful fall day. The trees in and around Ottumwa are gorgeous - maybe the prettiest I've ever seen! I had a very busy day though. I had to get a card made and in the mail for my great-niece whose birthday is tomorrow. Then I had a massage this morning, followed by a late lunch with Sudi & Howard at a "truck stop"!!! I came home, iced my shoulder for about 30 minutes and then had a meeting with a computer guru at 5:15 followed by choir at 7:30. Whew! I'm tired now!

I hope to have some more pix to share tomorrow. I took my camera with me today and took several pictures of beautiful fall foliage. More later...

Christmas Preview

Preview #1 - The 'Bambi' card:

Isn't this a cute card? I won't be mass-producing it, however, because "Bambi" has to be cut out and I'd cut his legs off!! I think he's cut peeking around that tree. If he were in Ottumwa, he would be EATING the tree!
Preview #2 - The Shiny Card: This may be THE card - it's easy to do and very striking...although it doesn't show that here. It's shiny gold on a red card - with an embellishment in the corner. I think I could actually make 75 of these before Christmas!

Preview #3 - All That Glitters: I love this one BUT again I have to cut out the ornament. If I can find a punch to punch it out rather than cutting it, I'll be doing this one instead!

As for an update on Aunt Helen - yesterday she wouldn't eat or drink or get out of bed. Today she did all three. The Hospice volunteers tell us that she'll do that...when you're 102 and don't feel like getting out of bed, you shouldn't!! Same with eating.

Brrrrr...

It was too cold for a car show, let me tell you! I went over to S HyVee for a cruise-in at 10:00. It was supposed to last until 4:00, but by 2:00 we were all frozen and called it off! It was nice when the sun was shining, but when the clouds rolled in, it was downright frigid!! After I got home, I sat in my chair with the heater on, three blankets on my lap, and was still cold. Dave lit the fireplace and got me some hot chocolate and I'm finally warm! My shoulder literally froze up - it was hard to move when I got home...that's the hardest time I've ever had moving my shoulder. I think it's okay now, but it's sure been achy ever since I got home.

I didn't get much else done today. Will work in my craft room tomorrow after church.

The Saga Continues

We brought Aunt Helen home today - yeah!!! She looked so happy to be going home - just couldn't believe it. Neither of us thought she would ever get home from the hospital this time, but we were wrong. By the time we got her back to Sunny Brook, Hospice had been there and delivered a hospital bed and a wheelchair with a 4" cushion in it...she's going to love it.

We got lots of compliments on our skit today at the Reciprocity PEO luncheon. It was fun! Everyone acted their part - the audience laughed - and yet we all learned something new. We had our luncheon at Indian Hills in the dining room. The menu was mixed greens, plus fixin's for salad, including both grilled and breaded chicken. For dessert, we had turtle cheesecake! A great time was had by all!

Tonight we went out to dinner with Craig & Sue - hadn't seen them for about a month. We talked non-stop. Tomorrow we have a membership drive for the Vintage Cruisers. I sure hope we get some new members...we need some new blood. The forcast is for partly sunny and about 50 degrees....should be a nice day! More later...

Update

Bob & I went over to meet with Hospice today about Aunt Helen. Her doctor's diagnosis says she won't live more than 6 months. Hospice can accept her because she's lost 12 pounds just since she's been in the hospital (3 weeks). Aunt Helen was very alert today. Physical therapy got her up and walked her twice - but it takes more than 1 person to get her up and while she's walking, if she gets tired - she sits down, so you'd better have a chair there to catch her. I sure hope this works! I can't imagine that Sunny Brook will want to bother with a 102-year-old who can't get out of bed unless there are 2 people to help her. Of course, if she gains a little weight, she might get stronger and then be able to get up with the help of only 1 person. Keep your fingers crossed.

Other than going to the hospital and doing my exercises for my shoulder, I don't get much done! I do have some cards to share - I'm making Christmas cards. I just need to get them scanned and cropped. Maybe this weekend I'll get that done.

Tomorrow is Physical Therapy and P.E.O. Reciprocity luncheon and meeting. I think I'll be busy most of the day!!

OK - I'm Back!

My shoulder is doing really well, so I decided there was no reason I shouldn't be blogging! Today was a good day at physical therapy...I got to add a 1# weight to some of my exercises. Now, 1 pound doesn't sound like much, but when you haven't been lifting any thing heavier than a glass of water, 1 pound x 15 repetitions is a lot! I can certainly tell tonight that I added some weight to my routines. Plus, I had my favorite physical therapist today and she really stretches out my muscles - I didn't have her the last 2 times I was at PT so I really missed getting the good stretches!

Today was also a trying day otherwise. Aunt Helen has been in the hospital for 3 weeks and today we met with her "team" today and their recommendation was that she could go home, but with Hospice care coming in to help get her up and give her a little more care than the staff at Sunnybrook could give her OR we could put her in a long term care facility. Bob and I decided if she could go back to Sunnybrook with more care, that would be the best place for her. She may have to be moved to a nursing home environment later, but for now we thought she should go home if she could. When we were visiting with her today she seemed very good. She was sitting up, talking well, and didn't fall asleep when we visited with her. Hopefully tomorrow is just as good, or we'll probably regret making the decision we did. We talked with Joneane (the head of nursing) and she thinks Helen is just wearing out - she is 102 after all!! Another move would be hard on her, so maybe just going back to her "home" will be the trick! I have to hope so. More later....