the battle of the woobies

my niece lexie is 2 1/2 yrs old
the first year i learned to knit i made her two blankets, last year i made her one, and this year i made her one. my brother says she has all of them in her bed with her, some in btter shape than others.
this year i got my sil for christmas, i made her a throw, just a small blanket to go over her lap. i worked on it all day saturday and for 8 hrs on sunday to get it done. when lexie saw her mom open up the blanket, she shouted woobie!!! and lunged for it, my sil told her no, it’s my woobie. lexie was none too happy about the situation until she opened her next gift and found her own woobie, and she let everyone know it was her woobie!

that was one of many little moments on our christmas eve, and dad missed it. he’s missed the last two thanksgivings, his birthday party this year, christmas eve and day, and most likley new years as well.

my mom

she had an appointment with a lawyer. there’s so much she has to do it’s unreal. my sister and sil went with her, they taped the meeting, and my sil made a “to do” list for my mom.
bottom line the house will be protected. they have a loan out on a truck right now, and the lawyer told her to take out a home equity loan and pay off the truck and any other debt, such as credit cards. if there’s a lien against the house they won’t take it.
she has to have everything put in her name, every asset, every thing they own. dad won’t even have his name on their bank accounts. they have to make new wills, put the house in a trust, get power of attorney for my two older sisters, have her living will faxed to the lawyer, have their life insurance information faxed to the lawyers.
the things they could lose, the equity in the life insurance, and both of their vehicles. but not the house. i told mom, even if you are forced to sell both the truck and car, you can lease a car. it’s not as big a loss as losing your home.
she said there was so many things she can’t remember everything that was said, i’ll be going home this sunday, so i’ll find out more then.
she went into the nursing home and asked the physical therapy staff, couldn’t she take him home for christmas eve/day and bring him back on the 26th. they said no, he’s not able to do much for himself, and of course she can’t lift him. she was embarrassed, because she started to cry.
 my mom is under so much stress right now, we all are. besides dealing with dad’s situation, she now has all this legal stuff to handle. she said she felt like she was taking everything off of him. i told her she was protecting everything they had spent their lives building together, he knows that. he’s a part of every decision, and every step along the way, he understands. his number one concern has always been that should he pass first, mom would be provided for.
so i have some time off coming up, i work 12/26 and then i am off until 1/2. depending on what’s going on with dad, we are planning a day trip, back to pennsylvania. last week when i was off we went back to the town my parents grew up in. after dad got out of the army, he went to college at indiana university in indiana pennsylvania. my favorite actor of all time was born in indiana pennsylvania, and they have a museum there for him, and i want to see the houses he lived in, and the statue in the courtyard, and the hardware store his dad owned. i’m talking about jimmy stewart. i asked mom to go, and we are also going to do a tour of where they lived. the five and dime she worked in, and the fabric store, the college dad went to (he drove a bakery truck to support his family) and the little trailer park that was their first home together. (where my dad crawled under the trailer, re-lite the pilot light and blew his eyebrows off) she needs the break. we’ll see what happens in the next week, and where dad’s at, but i’d really enjoy taking mom back there and learning more about my parents

water,……………….WATER!!!!!!!!!!

what i wouldn’t give right now for a drop of water. i came home yesterday from my weekend on the east coast, and found many unexpected things, a few not so unusual for this time of year, i just didn’t know they were coming. it was 27 degrees at the airport when we landed, it was actually warmer back east. i drove home and found a foot of snow in my driveway. i have 4wd so i just drove right over it. i found a christmas present hidden in between the screen and front doors. so far, all good. i don’t mind the snow, it was very pretty, and spotted with cat tracks, i enjoyed the gift and i even didn’t mind the cold weather, in fact i usually like winter for the most part and only start grumbling when the temperature drops, and the wind kicks up, it’s minus something or other with the windchill, and as soon as you walk out the door, your nose hair freezes.  (but i digress)

when i got home yesterday there was a message on the answering machine from the landlord, there was no water, the motor on the pump from the well had burnt out, the plumber still isn’t sure exactly what is wrong, but they think the main pipe from the house to the well has a hole or crack in it, but regardless, no water. i waited for the landlord to return my call, and finally at 8pm, her husband called, and she called at 10pm. the plumber is returning today and they don’t know if there will be water tonight or not.

by this late hour of the night i decided to just spend the night at home, i packed a bag and brought it with me today, if the water isn’t fixed i’ll be staying the night at home, which means a 45 min drive into work tomorrow. staying at the house last night was an adventure, i mean you can only hold it for so long ya know? and you can only let so much sit and “mellow” before you have to flush, or at least i do.  (quiet sarah) so in order to flush the toilet, i did in fact melt snow. fortunately there was plenty of it just outside the door, i’d scoop it up in my spaghetti pot and my two largest sauce pans, melt it down, and then dump it into a bucket. a pot packed with snows yields very little actual water, it took forever.

hears hoping they have things fixed and i can stay in my own home tonight, judy is retiring, her last day is thursday, and we are taking her out for dinner tonight. i had asked tony to toss in some coin for me if they bought her a gift, so i’ll be interested to see what we got her, since tony was in charge of the present! dinner and drinks are tonight, so it would be really nice not to have a long drive home. (and i hear judy is quite the party girl)

in my life

so much is happening in my life right now, i feel a bit overwhelmed at times, well honestly more than a bit overwhelmed. on nov 20th dad was admitted to the hospital. he has been on diuretics, and it dehydrated him, his lab work was elevated and he was admitted to get things with his kidneys under control. he spent thanksgiving in the hospital for the second year in a row, being released the day after. he went home, sat down in his chair in the living room and stayed. 5 days pass and he can not walk, can not stand, can not support his own weight. he was re-admitted to the hospital on nov 29th. his birthday. i went to see him the next day and he was very depressed. he hardly spoke a word, other than to say he was unhappy with his care from the nursing staff, and even then he wasn’t very specific. i had him moved to another floor, among other things, he had a fever of 104 degrees.

his spirit was low, frighteningly low. he just basically didn’t care, it’s as if he gave up hope. on dec 4th he was transferred to a nursing home, the same one he was in last spring, for re-hab. he’s determined to be home for christmas, it gives him a goal to work towards, in the meantime his spirit has improved, and he has started eating. he had lost 22lbs in a very, very, short time.

today, i took my mom and my sister back to pennsylvania to visit the family graves and leave flowers. we stopped for both grandparents and a few more relatives. we drove by my grandmother’s house, the yard is a mess, the giant pine tree we used to climb in the front yard has been cut down. next door where my great aunt lizzie lived, there is a dirt driveway and carport in the yard where we used to play tag and frisbee. across the street where my great grandparents used to live, the house is gone, along with the woods, in their place, apartment buildings.