WORK AT WORK THEN WORK AT HOME

Lately I have been itching to make purses, my latest hobby; but my bossy husband has had other plans. Partially my fault, as I put the ideas into his head. Here's what's been keeping me from blogging, sewing, napping, etc.:We are enclosing our sun room. I didn't do much to help with this project, mostly because Adam's friend Justin came for a week and helped with the framing. The part we know nothing about. I assembled the sliding glass door (NOT fun), the wiring, the insulation and the standing around for moral support (there were times there was nothing for me to do, but Adam made me stay close, just-in-case; I hate that (Adam: "could you hand me my hammer? Have you seen the level? Where did the nails go? I sure am thirsty. Hey, where are you going, come back", etc.). Adam's cousin helped with the dry wall while I was in Oklahoma. Thanks to Joe, I was spared, once again. Our other big project is the deck down by the water. We actually started this one first, got the idea to do the sun room and then came back to this. Still haven't finished the sun room, but we are coming along pretty good. Thanks to drill Sargent Adam! I am always thankful AFTERWARDS that he pushes me when all I want to do is fun stuff. This might not look like much of a project, BUT IT IS! we had to dig I think it was 16 holes, two feet deep. The hardest part was carrying the supplies down cardiac hill. We had to carry something like 10 4x4x8 posts, six 2x10x16 boards, a ton of the 2x6x16 for the frame, 8 50lb bags of cement, the 50 deck boards on the top and all the extension cords, saws, hammers, nails, shovels, and misc. tools. Yesterday we carried the 50 deck boards and just placed them on the frame. Tomorrow we will line them up better and screw them in. I am actually pretty excited to do that. Not sure why, it's going to be a lot of work. Adam thinks we carried, just yesterday, a quarter of a mile worth of boards DOWN CARDIAC HILL! We are both sore, but it's good exercise. Next summer we are going to extend the deck with a path that leads to another smaller deck along the water. He thought of that one all himself. It's usually me that comes up with these extensive and expensive projects.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cardiac Hill, named by Adam's dad for the chest pains it gives him, here is a visual (I hope you can see the stairs part hidden by the shadows):


Adam has been bugging me about how badly he wants cherry trees so we ordered some from Miller's nursery, the place Bob gets all his trees from in NY, and his always seem to grow good. Adam planted these while I was in Oklahoma, along with my raspberry bush and my blueberry bushes. The trees look great, but the others look like twigs. I sure hope they grow in that thick, soggy clay. (below: my cherry trees, which are already blooming, do you think we will get cherries this year? My sad looking blueberry bushes, which you can't even tell which is the bush and which are weeds. And my twig for a rasp. bush).We are in the middle of painting our picket fence. It was tan.. who in their right mind would paint it that color, I don't know. Picket fences are supposed to be white, everyone knows that. This is a pain in the butt project I have managed to postpone. Adam will get on me soon, though. So, do you think the kids are feeling neglected while we focus all our attention to working outside? Not a chance. Walter has been in heaven. He runs all over the back yard while we work. He loved it when we dug the holes because he likes to chase things like dirt chunks. He is very strange. He has tennis balls all over the back yard. He looses and finds them every day. He will just chew on those things like he's doing in the picture like it's bubble gum. I don't know how he doesn't get a sore jaw. And the cats have even benefited from the projects because we sometimes leave the doors open long enough for them to sneak out. Adam said while I was gone that Ellie got out of the house and while him and Walter were down by the dock, they heard Ellie and a tom cat get in a fight on the porch. Adam said Walter tore up cardiac hill and when he got to the two cats fighting, he swatted the tom cat with his paw and chased him up a tree. I thought that was so sweet that Walter would stick up for Ellie like that. Those two hate each other. They pick on each other all day long. But I guess when it comes down to it, like with siblings that drive you nuts, you still love them in the end.

Grandma Annie is doing good.

Grandma Annie is doing great! I just called her and she answered the phone. She said no one had been by yet to visit with her today, but that they would be there shortly. I wish I could be there with her. I never got tired of sitting in her room the 4 days we were there. I heard she was walking with a walker with the help of the physical therapist, but when I told her I heard she was walking she denied it. She said "no, I'm not walking... by myself." I guess if it isn't on her own, she doesn't count it. She is sooo hard of hearing, I had to scream into the phone to talk to her. I could never call her from anywhere but home because people would be so annoyed by all the noise. I'm going down there to see her again next Friday. I will post more then.

A NEW ROOM - ALREADY

There was a different doctor on call this weekend that saw Grandma Annie on Sunday. He looked like an attractive Clay Aiken. He was asking my grandma when her last BM was. I told him yesterday, but that she had been passing gas a lot during the night. He asked if that was normal for her to do that, we didnt know; but I said... "it runs in the family" and he started laughing, I appologized for all of us for not being as lady like as we appeared and he knelt down by my grandma and told her "I like your family" she said in her sweet voice "oh! thank you!, what about me?" It was so cute of her to say. I think the doctor really like her. The doctor said it's hard to qualify for the rehab program the hospital offers but hoped she would be chosen. (It's rehab at the hospital, or a nursing home.)Said it would be at least Tuesday before anyone even made it to her room to make the assessment. They told us today she got picked! And it's a holiday! The nice doctor must have been touched by my grandma and thought she had enough to live for to get better. He must have done someone a favor because he said he doesn't usually have a whole lot of influence on the ones who make the decisions. I'm so thankful. However, today when she was eating lunch she choked up on some water, so they have to make sure she didn't get fluids in her lungs before they let her move to her new floor in rehab. They promised to hold her a bed. (another thing the doctor said they never do and decisions can be changed even after the patient has been informed). I sure hope she didn't get fluid in her lungs, otherwise they fear she could develop pnemonia. Pray for her. She is the sweetest lady in the whole world! She did so much for us when we were little. She loved us. My uncle Donnie's wife was telling us all the stories my grandma told her about us kids from when she would look after us. She said she would get all six of us to bed, and then she would sneak to my mom's empty bed to get some rest herself until my mom would come home and before she knew it, she would wake up to a full bed and kids spilling onto the floor. So she said she would sneak out of bed, and tiptoe to one of us kids empty beds. And then it would happen again and again, she would wake up to kids in her bed, spilling onto the floor because there were so many of us. I guess we just followed her throughout the night from one bed to the next. My mom worked night shifts at the grocery store so that she could work her other job during the day to keep us all fed and clothed. My mom told us a story this weekend about a job she had that almost got her killed. It was a part-time position at the Russell Stover's Candy store. She would only work there on special occassions for extra cash, such as Valentine's day, or other holiday's that no one else wanted to work. There was one night they really needed her and were very persistant about it. She couldn't remember what it was that she had going on, but she told them 'no'. That night the cashier was robbed and killed at gun point. She never went back to work there even though they tried to convince her otherwise.
I just got a call from Lori (who's birthday is today), Grandma Annie's chest x-ray is good. She will have a swallow test tomorrow and move to her new room. I'm so thankful. Even though she looks really old, she is not really all that old. She is only 79. She could have another 20 years if she is healthy. I think it was her grandma that lived to be 104. At least another good 10 years, which isn't much, but I'll take what I can and not take it for granted like I did her last 10+ years of good health.

Home Safe

We are all home safe and at Rachael's house, talking about the last few days. I still have another two and a half hour drive home, but I might stick around here for a few hours and head home later. It's Lori's birthday so we are going to have a BBQ. I'll write more about the trip later. Haven't heard how Grandma Annie did through the night, but I will call the nurses soon. Before we left we took donuts and Panara bread bagels to her new nurses as a bribe to pay special attention to her and we did the same for the nurses in the ICU that were so kind to her. Bye for now.

She Wants Outta This Place

Grandma Annie is trying to get the heck outta this place. She keeps uncovering herself and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. If she wants to get any farther than that, she will have to slump out of the bed and belly crawl home because she just isn't strong enough to do much more. She keeps begging me to take her home. Now that she is in her new room she gets less attention from the kind nurses in the ICU. These nurses are nice too, but not overly kind and they don't speak perfectly clear english and they have names you have never heard of that you certainly can't remember unless you write them down.

We aren't in Oklahoma City anymore... (j/k).

Grandma Annie is going to hate this room when we leave. The other one was in a giant horseshoe setting with the nurses station right smack in the middle of the shoe and her room wall facing the station was a glass wall with a large sliding glass door with a curtain. When she tried to leave, she said she wanted to get out of here and go somewhere. I told her it was late and that nothing would be open so that she would be content and sleep. But she kept persisting so Francie opened her big mouth and told her it was still Sabbath, (as we do not buy, sell or work on Sabbath, there would be nothing to do outside of here). I was like... "Franc- how can it be Sabbath if it's too late for anything to be open?" I guess neither of us were misleading her, as it is late for us being on Michigan time and being so tired; and it really is still Sabbath (until sundown).

Oh, and mom is driving us nuts. We aren't allowed to touch ANYTHING because it's FILTHY. She is like a hawk. I had my legs crossed and was touching the hem of my jeans. Mom freaked out... "no! don't touch your pants! Go wash your hands and when you get back to the hotel put your jeans in a plastic bag" (because my jeans were long enough to drag on the ground). This room has a ledge all along one wall for sitting. We aren't allowed to sit on the cushioned portion without sitting on a pillow because "have you seen how dirty it is?". She is not a major germ-a-phobic but hospitals are her weakness. Kristen slid her tennis's off and was touching the heal of her foot. Mom made her put her shoes back on and wash her hands - all in a panic of coarse.

I sort of wish Adam would have been able to come for the simple reason that he would've been able to understand why I am a pack rat/messy person and an animal lover, and realize that it isn't my fault... it's in my genes, out of my control, not a thing I can do about it. And this morning before church service, Grandma Annie's pastor stopped in. He said her distinguishing characteristic was that she tells it how it is, and there isn't anything she won't say. I had to laugh to myself... that is clearly a character trait specific to our family. So next time I open my big mouth and stick my foot in it, you can all blame her; she gave it to me. Another thing I can't be held accountable for; out of my control.

Grandma Annie said it meant soo much to her that we were here with her. She was very genuine about it. She said she thinks about us all the time and is so glad she got to see us again. She doesn't look like herself at all really. But I know it's her because she pat pats with the palm of her hand, no one else does that but Shannon, and she doesn't really even to that but with the back of her hand. She keeps reaching out to stretch her arms. Kristen says it's the "grandma Annie version of sleep walking" she is so clever.

A Picture Brings Back A Thousand Memories

Grandpa Chuck's house. The house we lived in, in Oklahoma City. "Kent" house. (On Kent Street).

Grandma Annie's old house (below). It looks like someone wanted to change the look, because it doesn't have any of the Victorian trim or windows, or the giant porch that wrapped all the way around the house. It's not even the same color. I was really disappointed to see that they changed it so much. This is the biggest house on the street and I was told that it was originally built for the mayor of Oklahoma City. It was beautiful in it's day. There are two large sets of staircases inside. One that goes up, and the other one that goes down the other side. (I guess you could go up or down both of them). I was also a little disappointed that all the bushes and trees had been cut down, only because I hoped it would look just like I had remembered it. I think the house used to be blue. There were trees and bushes everywhere, so much that we never stepped a foot in the back yard. The old truck isn't there, but as soon as I see Grandma Annie, I will ask her where it went.

But... the shaded sidewalk and chain link fence was very familiar. I can remember walking down this sidewalk with great grandpa Orval many times. When we were taking pictures of the house, a neighbor ran out of their house and into Grandma's old house. They were very suspicious of us walking around taking pictures of the house. The neighborhood is very shady... and so were the people giving us evil eyes from across the street. I don't blame them for being concerned, but I would have explained had I not been so afraid of them. Mom was across the street in the car waving her arms out the window, whisper/yelling "come on... lets go; people are coming!" So I snapped this last picture just before I ran across the street with Kristen on my heels and jumped in the car. I almost forgot to look both ways. Grandma Annie is doing really good. She was in a sitting position with her eyes open. She was answering all mom's questions correctly. Good news guys... she remembers all of our middle names and birth order. She had physical therapy this morning, which didn't make her very happy. She wanted to lay down and the girl wouldn't let her. She was very young and sweet, but told Grandma that she had to sit up and move her legs and stretch her lungs, so grandma pinched her because she wouldn't let her lay down. The girl didn't say anything, she just grinned but Francie and I saw it. It was just like she would do to us when we were little. She slid her hand up the girls arm and when she got to the back of her arm, she grabbed the "flabby part" and pinched. I guess it was just a threat because it didn't hurt her.
This is the bank that Grandma was pulling out of when she was broadsided by a pick-up with a trailer. Mom called this the "pineapple" bank. Can you believe they gave an old lady on her potential death bed a ticket? They are saying it's her fault.

All her nurses are so sweet, they treat her like she were their own grandma. To them she isn't just another sick old lady. They really care about her. Every one of them.

I will post pictures of Grandma Annie if I can get a good one of her awake. Last night we thought she was going. I had been struggling to hold it in all day, and then when she started to get confused I just lost it, and then everyone else followed. We were all sobbing out of control. Kristen blew so much snot her tissue blew out, we all were laughing and crying at the same time over that. Leave it to Kristen to make us all laugh at a time like this. She is doing so much better today, however, that they are moving her to a new room, out of the ICU. So I have to go because at this very moment they are moving her. I sure hope we have Internet in that room, since we haven't had it in her current room.

Happy Mother's Day

Sorry that I cannot call you today to wish you a happy mother's day. I don't want the international charges, and I'm guessing you don't either. Hope you are enjoying yourself today. Thanks for being a great mom.

Little Larry

No, we did not get another pet. We are simply caring for it until it's weaned from a bottle and can eat hard food. Or until we find someone patient enough to care for a kitty needing to be bottle fed. Little Larry has to eat every 3-4 hours, and he poops on himself, so his bedding has to be changed every few hours as well. I have done 4 loads of just kitty laundry just this week. Larry came from Marble. Marble is my Dea's mom, my brown cat. They were both neglected in the same way, only Larry is much stronger and healthier than Dea was. Larry has to go to work with me. I can't exactly get in trouble with my boss, (my FIL) because he's the one who found him and put him on Adam's desk in a box. Right now he is sitting on my lap, he smells very bad. I hate to freshen him up before bed, as he will surely potty on himself tonight and I will have to clean him up again in the morning. He is so stinky!