Dog Days of Winter

It was a good weekend.  NICE and warm!!  We got up to 55 degrees on Friday and Sunday!  Saturday was colder but had a high of 40ish.  It's like Spring is TRYING to push through and I am all for it!

1) my brother stopped by on Saturday to see if he could fix my deck.  We found that the patio room is keeping us from fixing it properly and it's doing it's own job of falling apart anyway, so it's coming down.  He threw a few 8 inch screws into the main deck board to give me a sense of control over the situation and will be back in a few weeks to complete the job.  

We can walk on the deck now without fear. Whew!

He'd gone skiing on Friday and tore up his shoulder in a head over heels tumble on the slope so he was in a lot of pain.  I gave him some meds and he bought me breakfast. and muffins for later...

2) Later that afternoon, Maddy invited Meri and myself over to play with her dogs and watch a movie. 

 We talked Meri into watching the first episode of Only Murders In The Building.  She hadn't really WANTED to see it but we both had enjoyed it and wanted her to also.  After the first episode, I said, Well I need to get going!  But Meri said, Nope, we're watching the 2nd episode too!

okey dokey!  I guess she binged watched the rest late into the night on Saturday when she got home. :)

I'm glad she enjoyed it! The 2nd season is being filmed at the moment so we'll all watch it together when it comes out.

3) Sunday after church, I visited with a dear friend to refill his TIVO.  He doesn't have internet.  Failed big time.  The TIVO antena thingy is flakey sometimes...  But since I was running out of time, I left it and went to go visit with my bestie, his wife, at the nursing home.  I went back to Mike's house on Monday night with Leon and we finally go the TIVO working.  Whew!  His TIVO is good for another 10 days.  Leon wants to come along next time because maybe it will be warmer and he can explore the deep dark forest easier. Ummm, you'll be at your mom's kid.  The NEXT time...

Then Maddy and I drove about an hour away and saw Grandma at her independent living apartment and visited for a while.  I showed her the video I'd made of Robb and we all cried.  And we reset the channels on her tv.  For some reason that no one has figured out yet, she accidentally deletes the channels from her lineup. Then Maddy and I picked up Leon from his mom's and brought him home.  

4) We got home just before it got dark, but by the time Maddy brought her dogs over, it WAS dark.  That didn't stop us.  We walked out to the cemetery in the dark.  When you have a walking companion and a couple dogs with you that bark at a dropped leaf, you just feel safe, even when walking through a cemetery.  Sunday was the 1 year anniversary of burying Robb.  

Daisy and Zola got all worn out and Maddy sent a video of the dogs all sprawled out on their backs, sleeping the walk off. :)

5) One of Meri's cats passed away during the night Sunday evening.  Zucchini, Keven's brother.  She was just torn up about it.  She had been planning to take him to the vet on Monday because he hadn't been eating well lately.  Both the girls came over early Monday and they made a paint print of Zucchini's paw and then we buried him behind the garage.  That was the only spot where the ground wasn't frozen 4 inches down.  Maddy poured in some boiling water to help soften the dirt as we got deeper.

Then we each said some things about Zucchini and sang Amazing Grace. And Maddy quoted Robb's saying that he would do for goldfish deaths.  "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Bless Zucchini, may he never rust." Or something to that effect.  Poor Meri.  It's been an extra rough week for her.

6) Leon and I made cupcakes last night for his birthday dinner tonight.  He is TEN years old today!!!  Remember THIS post?  Sew Not My Day!: An Introduction and a winner!

I got him a Lego set of an X-Wing fighter ship from Star Wars.  It's almost 800 pieces and will probably take him an hour to put together. :)  He got the Y-Wing for Christmas and had asked for this one.  The dining room table is stacked with gifts for him to open tonight.

Each of the kids gets to pick what meal to have for their birthdays and he chose Sushi this year.  I don't even think he's ever tried it but he's feeling adventuresome, and for that alone, I'm thankful.  I'm also making steak strips and sweet potatoes as sides, just in case he changes his mind...  Matthew made rice balls last night and Meri is going to make a bunch of sushi with the bamboo mats this afternoon.

Jen will help me decorate the cupcakes this afternoon, because Leon wants them to look like mushrooms.  He definitely has a unique personality and there is NO one like him in all of 4th grade.  At least not at our homebased online school!  I had picked up little gummy frogs for him and he wants them on the cupcakes to give them that extra mushroomy, woodsy feel.  We'll see what we can do!

Happy Birthday Leon!!!

Scary Situations

 I came downstairs to this, this morning...  Creepy Molly, waiting by the front door.

But waiting for what?...

And when I got the house resided last fall, they mentioned that the deck was pulling away from the house... YIKES!!!  I thought we'd have some time and we probably do.  But then I was talking to my brother yesterday and mentioned the deck thing.  I walked out in the cold to see if I could find evidence of what had been reported to me and found this...  I sent him this picture, then walked all the way around the house instead of going back by way of the deck.

The desk is verboten for now.

It appears to only be on one side of the deck.  My brother got nervous about it, telling me about a deck that collapsed once and hurt a young couple and their realtor.  He said, "just rip off the deck and build it again." WHA??!!!  I can't afford that!  So he called me the next day and said that he'd be nearby this weekend for a ski day and would stop by my place the next day and check it out, maybe fixing it for me!  

I need to buy some steaks JUST in case he's able to fix it.  Jen's dad might be here that day too and assist.

If they're not able to fix it, then I'll probably just make some Hamburger Helper for lunch...

Might need to save my pennies to get some pros in.

Fashion Show and Regrets

10.9 pounds gone.  32 day streak on my free MyFitnessPal.  I really thought I was going to go over my caloric intake yesterday, but IF I placed the right amounts of food in my food charts, I was within 12 calories left for the day.

Today will be better.  I'm not running around the house, or past the kitchen much.  So far...

I made a whole chicken in the Instant Pot yesterday and froze 4 cups of broth from it for future use.  Deboned it and then made almost 3 quarts of bone broth from the bones. 

THIS much. 

Then found the same jars sitting next to the fridge this morning.  SERIOUSLY???!!!!  uggg...  Even though my handy dandy re-purposed jars did seal, I don't trust them for leaving the broth out overnight.  Why take a chance?!  So I had to dump them.  What a waste... 

It's my fault...  Someone was looking for something in the fridge so instead of rushing them, I left them there to cool a bit before getting them tucked into it.  Then forgot about them. and yet again.. uggg...

What I did instead was finish the hem on a couple pairs of shorts and do an impromptu fashion show upstairs.

  

Here are some various outfits that I've made, except for the denim jean shorts.  

Ignore the dirty mirror.  Some streak down the center of it...  sigh.

The blue shorts were cloned off of a pair that I currently own.  So no pattern, but I made a pattern by tracing around each piece of the existing pair.  Fits well.  Next time I'll get a shorter zipper tho.

I've got one flowy top to make and then...

maybe...I've got enough for the cruise.  

It also occurred to me that I had some clothes in my closet stowed away for the cruise too.  But I want to stay busy sewing in my spare time!  It takes my mind off of things.  And that's good for me right now.  Well... except for getting my mind off the bone broth...

After I showed Robb some shorts that I made, he asked how many months the cruise was going to be for.

Six, of course...  I may need to rent a steamer trunk for my things.

THEN I saw a pic of my brother on FB, who had been tagged in a picture from Burning Man.  He just got home from it this weekend.  Apparently what happens in Burning Man, doesn't stay in Burning Man after all.  

Things will leak...

Like this.

Check out his leggings!!!!  So of course I called him and offered him my services to make him some special leggings for next years event as well.  It had never occurred to me to make leggings for anyone other than me and my girls...  He said, "You're on!"  However he doesn't trust my opinion of crazy fabric and will bring some that he's picked out to Thanksgiving, along with this pair, most likely, so I can clone them.  

If I can swing it, we'll have matching pairs.  But I won't go to Burning Man to show them off.

Bad Days need a Toast

 SOMEONE had a bad day yesterday...  I won't name names, but his name rhymes with Leon.

Ryan had something to sign this confession and get it back to the teacher today.  I think Leon's penmanship is better, quite frankly, and so does Ryan.  He really should have been a doctor.

Leon's only got one spelling test under his belt so far, so we're cutting him some slack on that...

Finn's mom picked him up super late last night, but he and I were able to watch some Wizard of Oz and he loved it!  I started it about the time the cyclone hit and then we had to stop it around when the wizard was giving out brains.  

He's a sweet kid, but wow.  There is a reason that parenting is for the young...

This morning I forgot that I'd made bread late yesterday afternoon and pulled it out of the machine to cut this morning.  

ISN'T IT PURDY?!  

And my toast this morning was perfect...

NOW... back to a schedule of SOME sort!  Yesterday's work load was brutal.

Shark Boy and Busy Gal

Whirlwind.  Leon's brother has left the building... with his mom.  They may be back later.  Things are murky.

Getting him to bed last night was SO much easier!  I snuggled with him until I "thought" he was asleep, then climbed into my own bed.  He sat up and patted the side of the couch that he wanted me to come back to...  At least he wasn't screaming!

It just occurred to me how ironic this pic is.  His name is Finn.  Our nickname for him is shark boy.

Today, besides work, I need to repair a mower tire, mow, pick up Leon from his dad's, visit Ada and get school supplies for Meri.  Did you know that culinary students needs to purchase a $300+ knife set?  With any luck, it will last forever...  AND a $70 garnishing set.  AND two different colored chefs outfits?  Yes, we'll be spending the big bucks today...  Leon will probably be with us.  Not sure yet.  

Is it Saturday yet?...

The Struggle, It's Real

This little blur is staying with us for a couple days.  Leon's brother.

He is the most energetic kid I've ever seen.  Might have to do with his penchant for eating just the frosting off a cupcake and loving Sunny D too much...  Sugar is the DEVIL!

His mom is having a rough time and needed to attend some meetings today so he stayed overnight and I had to struggle to get him to sleep.  The exorcism is planned for this afternoon... ;)

He had a bath this morning and actually enjoyed having water dumped over his head.  I really thought he'd be like his brother and I'd have to climb in with a scuba suit to get the soap washed out.  It was a struggle to get him out and away from the bath toys.  

But once I locked the bathroom door so he couldn't dart back in, we were good and he got dressed and brushed out with no problem.  I just need to remember to keep the Q-tip on top of the door frame so I can get back in later...

Robb should be home soon to help so that the boy won't interfere too much with my work.  So far it's a quiet day... Knock on wood.

He is now entertaining me by tickling the ivories of the piano.

and pulling all the music off it.

Toasting the Weekend

Another whirlwind weekend and I'm ready for another not quite so busy.  

On Friday night, Robb took me out on a date!  We were on our way to Des Moines to pick up a couch for Meri but the lady selling it cancelled when we were halfway there.  So hot and sweaty in the truck with no air conditioning, we turned around to catch a quick bite in town.  I thought we were only going to just grab some fast food, but Robb had other things in mind.  Before the trip cancellation, I was reading him posts that I saw on FB and one was asking "What would make this a fantastic Friday?"  And  he came through!  We looked sweaty and disgusting but our favorite Chinese restaurant still welcomed us in and we got our usual waitress who was great!  We don't go that often but we know what we like!  And they were actually faster, tastier and more friendly than any fast food joint!

 When we got home, I got to sew and finish a tunic top thing.  It was going to be a dress, but when I tried it on for Robb, you could see my legs CLEARLY through the thin knit.  Yeah... this one will need leggings...  It's waiting to get washed to clean out the iron in tape that I used to make the most perfect hem you've ever seen!  Too bad it will be worn a lot before next years fair...  

Would it be terrible to submit a shirt to the fair that's pilled badly?  Or sweat stained?  Or has that greasy spot from a splo-der hamburger?  Probs not.  Meri or I will just wear it to death I'm sure.

On Saturday, Robb and I headed to Meri's apartment SUPER early and hit the road to see my Mom and Dad three hours away.  And while Robb, Meri and Dad went off to my brother's to pick up a banana tree that he was gifting to Meri, my mom and I went to the Good Will and did a little thrifting for some shirts for her.  She was running low.  We found her some good ones and while she was trying them on, we realized that she'd left her jacket that she wore into the store back on some rack.  No one had tried to purchase it, so we were good!

Robb picked us up then and we took them out to Coney Island for some dogs and fries.  I reminisced about working at a shoe store right around the corner in college.  We used to go buy an exuberantly priced bucket of popcorn at the theater and snack from it while we sold shoes.  That job was so much fun until they cut my hours to about 1.5 a week with no notice...  I'm pretty sure we didn't get butter on the shoes... ;)

Lunch was a lot of fun, then we delivered Mom back to the nursing home and Dad back to my sister's and hit the road for home.  We'd have stayed a lot longer, but Meri was involved with a play that evening and she needed to check in at 4:30 for costumes.

Meri and I worked hard on her Thank you notes on the way.  I got all the envelopes done while she worked on the cards to slip inside.  She's still hopelessly behind, but it'll happen.

We got home in time to change and grab a bite to eat, then headed over to the hall for the play. It was held in the same place we have Thanksgiving every year.

Meri's skit was about a browbeating girl (Meri) berating her timid boyfriend, who was remembering his ex-girlfriend that HE used to berate.  We told Meri that we needed to get her in for anger management therapy... She was just TOO good!

On Sunday, she met us at church and afterwards, she came back to the house with us. We totally cleaned out her old bedroom and put in a new bed for guests.  I must have picked up 3 pounds of bobby pins out of the carpet.  It looks so roomy now that when I said that out loud, Meri was offended and asked if she had too much junk.  Ummm yes.  She'd had a tv table, overstuffed chair with ottoman, rocking chair, 2 picnic baskets and lots of other things!  Out of all the things I mentioned here, all that is left now is a bed.  Whew!  And her fish tank.  She'll take that another day.  OH and she also took Fitz!!!  We're just down to the two dogs now.  The house is feeling SO empty!  I do believe I could get used to this.

Leon came home last night and we watched Jurassic World together.  It had been on tv and I'd taped it for us.  Robb was giving spoilers and I almost banned him from the room.  "He's about to lose an arm!"  SSSSHHHHH!!!!!  It ended up being more than that, but still.  Leon had seen it probably 20 times and every time I felt like I should cover his eyes, he said, "I've SEEN this!!!!"  

Maybe next time we'll watch the Blair Witch Project with him.

(I'm kidding!!!)

But I DO want to see The MEG.  But with Meri, not Leon.  Robb is not interested.

I just dropped Leon off at his dad's this morning.  I hope they're having a great day!

I got to sew a little last night, if by sewing I mean drawing out my plans for the bag challenge, then yes.  I cut out a piece of paper the size of the fabric I got from a canvas bag.  

All the seams have been ripped and ready for a new creation.

Our sewing group has challenged us to make a new bag out of the given bag but the secret is that we need to use up every bit of the fabric.  So...  I'm going to be as creative as possible and make a bag that would only cost $12 online or at Walmart.  Well, actually this particular one is $25 and the most expensive I could find that wasn't made entirely of leather.

Sometimes I wonder why I sew...

OH!!! On our way Saturday morning, I got a call from my brother.  He had NEVER been to the Iowa State Fair and after talking to me about my entries, decided that this was the weekend to do it.  So if we'd been on the same highway, we could have high fived each other passing.  He took one of his friends, Cathy, and hit the road.  Throughout the day, I got calls from him announcing what they were doing.  Apparently Cathy had brought a toaster and bag of bread for when they saw the butter cow.  I'm hoping they were joking, because they will NOT let her take a swipe of butter...  I told him about the apple slushies that were in that same building and they had one each.  He's a big fan now!  and I might have to go back to the fair to get one this year!  Or figure out how to make one at home.  OH YUMMMM!!!

He called later to find out which building the sewing stuff was in so I described it and they went there. He called again because they couldn't find the steps to go upstairs, but then Cathy found them.  He kept me on the phone to describe where my things were located.  Oh HERE is the dress Meri wore in Beauty and the Beast!  and HERE is her prom dress!  Weren't all these things on the deck for her party?!  He was thoroughly impressed with all the sewn items and was actually proud of his little sister!  :)  Is he the best brother or what?  

True, he is my only brother...  But it warmed my heart that he mainly went to the fair to see my things!  and probably also to use the term Beer Thirty and get introduced to the pitching cow chip game.  I haven't heard much since he went home.  Looking forward to seeing some of the pics he's taken but he hasn't shared much on FB yet.

Anyway, I should probably end this post now or I won't have anything to write about tomorrow.  Actually I'm fresh out of topics for tomorrow but I've got roughly 24 hours to come up with something.  Shouldn't be a problem for me.  My life is a soap/comedy/drama/romcom/tragedy.  

It's ALWAYS something.  OH!!!  That's another movie that I want to see so bad!!!! LOVE Gilda!!  The preview made me cry...

Ok I'm done.

Wedding Weekends

My big and only brother arrived late on Friday night and leaving early the next morning, drove with us to Kentucky for my nephew's wedding.  Nine hours of Chuck Norris jokes and stories of our youth and our kids made the trip go faster.  Although my bottom hurt after sitting for so long...  

Yes, that is the St. Louis Arch.  We passed it twice in the same morning.  Long story...

but roll em up!

I filled the time by doing some hand sewing.  I'm still not done with the hand sewing, but did make some great progress on some Christmas gifts.  I have more road trips between now and then, so they'll get done.

Robb rented a car and besides being cleaner than ours, it was better on mileage than our current cars, so win win!  Plus it looked GOOD!!  and had some futuristic dash that could transform into a jet (or at least look like it) with the push of a button.

We got to our hotel in time to get cleaned up and into nicer clothes, then off to the wedding.

The place was gorgeous!  I couldn't get enough of the chandeliers.

My sister (mother of the groom) being walked in for the service.  She was lovely.

My nephew, the groom.  David.

A few of the groomsmen with the groom.  There are 3 more brothers and two sisters.

After a lovely buffet, the dance started.  

Tammy got her mother/son dance and that was so sweet.

Robb even got out on the dance floor with me twice!  Then a dance back by our table.  Tammy pulled me out onto the dance for a lot more and by the end of the night, I was exhausted and my throat hurt from singing along with the songs.

and yes, Sister Sledge and We Are Family.  That needs to play earlier wedding dances...

But I was glad it played when it did here.  Almost all the guests were gone except for our immediate families and little kids dancing around chasing balloons.  I don't mind acting like a fool in front of them!  So my big sis and I cut a rug and sang at the top of our voices.  Tammy is going to have to learn the words better by the next wedding.

Here is a video of several of my nephews getting DOWN!
Too funny!  Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle!

Tammy and most of her kids dancing together.

There were lots of photo ops of this.  These two lovebirds were so sweet.

  

What a beautiful evening.

Tammy and one of her girls went back to the hotel with us and we sat up and talked for a while before everyone decided they were too tired to sit up and snack anymore.  And we left bright and early the next morning (well, a hour or so later than Saturday) and headed for home, picking up Leon on the way.

What a long but swift weekend.  I can't believe I'm sitting back at my computer desk already!

Nobody's going to believe you

Oh my.. yesterday was a bear and a half!  As in I barely got time to grab any food for lunch and barely had any time to run to the restroom during the day...

I hope today is better.

Leon fell asleep on the couch by 5:30 and had a nap til 7 when we shook him awake for supper.  So I read 3 chapters of the Bobbsey Twins to no avail...  But by that time, his dad had gotten home from work so I suggested they have a sleepover.  THAT'LL keep him off my bedroom couch for the evening!

Not that I really have a problem with that...

Now that I'm done with Mrs. Maisel, I watched a movie that I'd recorded off tv.  Alfred Hitchcock's, The Man Who Knew Too Much.  wow...  That sucked me in and I almost cried during a part when the little boy was kidnapped.  I'm not giving anything away, it's in the description...  

Oh - and this is a part of the movie where they're in Morocco and the boy pointed out a whole row of women cranking away on their sewing machines.  COOL!

  

And let me tell you, it's NOTHING like The Man Who Knew Too Little, although that one is a hoot!  I cannot resist a movie with Bill Murray.  Unless of course, it's an attempt at a serious movie... or Garfield...

Not sure how today will be yet, but my bro comes here tonight!  Woohoo! 

Him with my dad.

It'll be a wild weekend!

Have a great one!

McValson Cruiseline

When I was in high school, I named my Ford Pinto after Tom Cruise.

Also probably for the fact that I thought I'd never go ON a cruise...  I did love the Love Boat too...  

So I lived vicariously through my little Cruiser.  

Mine was nicer!  Until it got run over of course...  But that's a story HERE or HERE.

And this post is NOT about my much loved little tin can of rust.  My sisters, brother and I are talking about going ON a real cruise in 2019!!  I'm saving my pennies and hiding them cleverly from people in my house that might be looking for the odd quarter to round out their change for a pop or some change for a parking meter.  

*there are no parking meters in our town...*

or change to bribe a little boy to sleep in his own bed...

It started out as the Sister's Cruise, but has morphed into the McValson Sibling Cruise.  

*Not my sibling's name for it.*

I'm a little apprehensive...  I've seen the Poseidon Adventure a few too many times maybe...

I'm sure it will be just fine, safe and fun!

And it won't be on New Year's Eve.

I'll just need to get a cabin close to the engine room.

I have one sister that has been on several and another who just celebrated her and her husband's 25th wedding anniversary by going on a cruise off of Florida just after all the hurricanes.  The cruise line just reroutes things if there is a problem.  Judging from her comments and photos, they had a great time!

I'm counting the days.  The staff seems like a LOT of fun!

and my companions will be a riot.

Funerals and Brothers

On Friday, I left at 5:45am and headed to my home town where I met up with two sisters and my parents.  We drove another hour or so and attended the funeral of one of my uncles.  I'd only seen him a handful of times since I was much younger.  He was actually my dad's brother-in-law.

I WOULD have kept it together but they played a song at the beginning of the service and I wept.  And then they played another equally successful tear jerky song at the end...  sigh...  

I should have brought tissues.

So much that I hadn't known about Jim.  It was good to see my cousins again after so many years.  They all got taller.  And my aunt is still just as elegant and beautiful as ever.  I'm glad she's got her kids close.  

Their 50th wedding anniversary a few years back.

On the way back to hometown Iowa, I rode with my brother.  I don't get to see him much.  He's pretty busy too.  It must run in the family...

Before we left town, we drove out to the dam where Bonnie and Jim had had a cabin that we'd visited a lot when we were kids.  TONS of memories.  His son bought it several years ago so now the grandkids have a blast on the beach where I found a snapping turtle all those years ago.  Jim had had a house built nearby with a gorgeous view of the dam.  I hadn't been there before, but Mark drove me past it to show me.  

As we drove over the dam to get back onto the highway home, he told me a story about a fancy, schmanzy restaurant that operated within view of the dam.  Some friends of his were dressed all nice and enjoying an expensive dinner with several others in front of two story windows overlooking the dam.  A bald eagle landed in the tree just outside the window with a cat in it's talons.  

That eagle proceeded to rip that cat to shreds in full view of the diners...  

Check please!

We'd hoped to visit with his daughter, Norah's mom, on a beach but couldn't get her on the phone until we were driving back over the dam.  "We're on the dam driving REALLY slow!  Do you see us?  We're waving!"  They didn't see us.  Oh well.  We'll catch her another time.

Mark had to get home and finish packing up his stuff.  He was headed to Burning Man on Saturday.  

Like I said, he's a busy guy!

He must have made it.  Someone posted this pic of him yesterday.

Oops - Correction: they posted a pic of a Ragbrai bike ride from a few years ago...

I'm sure there is one similar at Burning Man.

AND I found one!  This is from last year.

Just my wild and crazy brother...   Someday, HIS funeral service will provide insights of his life that I hadn't known either. 

Angling from the Weekend

It was a jam packed weekend.  When is it ever not??

Let's start with Friday.

Robb left right after work in Meri's hot little car with no air conditioning and drove to Missouri where my SIL and BIL live.  BIL Greg is a master mechanic, not as a profession, but a hobby.  You can describe a certain sound your car is making or hold your phone up to it for him and he can tell you exactly what is wrong with it.  100% of the time, he's right.  I've never known him to be wrong...

So Robb got the hillbilly air conditioner, that he made for Maddy's dorm room a few years back, plugged it into an adaptor with a container of ice inside and off he went.

The car fix took a $30 part and most of Greg's Saturday, but Robb drove it home Saturday night with air conditioning.  I called him while he was on his way back and he said that he's had to stop a few times to warm up.  Meri sarcastically asked him if the heater still worked.  Um yeah... but he was just loving getting caught up on the coolness.  

He  was gone Friday night and Meri was working, so I made dinner for just myself and my MIL and then went to clean my bathroom and organize sewing stuff.
I AM a wild and crazy woman on a Friday night!!!!

On Saturday, after a garbage run, Meri and a friend met me at the county fair grounds and we found that her blue ribbon photo with an orange dot did NOT advance to the State Fair.  She was bummed BUT she and Emily stayed and did some fair stuff, watching the goats or some such thing.  I took off.

I went to my home town to see my family three hours away.  First picking up my dad, then heading to my mom's nursing home.  She was busy rounding up residents to attend a church service in the cafeteria soon, so I went around with her while Dad moved chairs and the keyboard.  The pastor showed up with his family and the service started after a bit.  Here is Mom at the keyboard!  She played a lot of Christmas hymns while waiting for the service to start and the residents sang along.

I love Christmas in July!  But don't talk to Robb about that.

Mom, Dad and I went over to my brothers and I loaded up the rest of the wedding stuff that he'd hauled out of Minnesota for me in June.  Mark showed up soon and we visited for a while in his air conditioning.  Mom was too cold, but for me, it was JUST right!!!  Mom and Dad hadn't seen any of the wedding photos yet, so I showed them the only ones that I knew of from Facebook on my laptop.  Then we browsed around Mark's house and checked out all his crafty things.

I didn't get a photo of anything.  darn.  You would not ever recognize that this house was my grandparents after walking in the front door.  He's owned it since he turned 18.  And he doesn't brag about any of his projects on FB, so I don't have any photos... BUT he made a 4 inch thick polished concrete counter top with rebar in it.  He said that 9 people could tap dance safely on it if they wanted to.  But the ceiling was pretty low at that point, so they'd have to be short or doing a small part of the Mamushka.  The living room has chunks of wood on the walls all around the fireplace and is fabulous.  Skis on the wall as book shelves plus another book shelf made of slabs of tree.  LONG slabs, not the round ones.  And lots of bicyling art work around made of bike gears, parts, whatever.  Amazing.

And he has koi fish in a pond out front next to the hot tub.  He said that he likes to sit and watch his fish.  When he gets hungry, he reaches over to his raised garden and plucks a fresh potato and munches on it while he watches his fish.

Is he my brother or what??!  Apparently our humor is similar.

He's headed to Burning Man in August and showed us a coffee table book of the event that he'd just received.  It looks fascinating!  OH JANE!  He said that if you buy a ticket, you can ride out with him and a friend of his that's going also.

We got Mom back to her nursing home and then Dad and I stopped by a sister's house, but she wasn't home yet so we missed her.  Hugged a couple of her kids and then went over to another sister's work.  Kristin had brought her laptop with her to work and I was able to grab ALL the wedding photos that she had taken!!! YAY!  Just a teaser below.  

She made me swear not to post any on FB because she's not done editing them. but I have permission to post them on my blog. No one reads THAT!

 I'll post more tomorrow.

 On Sunday, I got my State Fair entries worked on.  Maddy's wedding gown hem was ruined from the farm, but luckily it was way long anyway.  I serged off a new hem on all three layers and it is shorter by about 1/4 inch.  Looks SO fab again! and clean!  Did a little ironing on the bodice and it's good to go.  I'm hoping to take everything to my sewing meeting tonight for advice.  We'll see.

Meri rented the movie "Life" and we watched most of it last night and the rest this morning.  Leon REALLY wanted to see it, but we said NO.  He can when he's 18.  There are only so many nights in the week when we allow him to sleep on our floor.

The movie reminded me of a computer program that I wrote for a college assignment.  It was supposed to be named Life but I did a miserable job on it and renamed it Death when I turned it in.
Don't let that stop you from renting the movie!!
NOT a spoiler, just an observation!

Meri came upstairs early this morning and we watched the rest before I even got out of bed.  AND my son brought me breakfast in bed!!!

What's his angle??...

What were you angling for this weekend?

Taking what I'm getting

It was a long weekend, followed by a longer week.  I'm so glad it's Friday!!  So I can have a nice long weekend again.  Well, two days, but I'll take what I can get.

Last Friday night, we celebrated the birthday of my nephew, Josh.  He attends college nearby.  It was great that he actually remembered to come this year because last year he was in the middle of a huge project and up against a deadline and fell asleep in the campus library.  That year, we made a video of us singing to his cake and Leon blew out the candles.

This year he got to blow out his own!  Happy Birthday Josh!

Saturday is where the real fun began.  While we installed the new washer and then Maddy and I worked on the last projects before she had to head back to her last two weeks of student teaching, I happened to check my FB messages.  My siblings and I have a private message board that started when my dad fell off a train and broke his back two years ago.  It was meant to keep us all informed and since then it's been to just update us whenever anything momentous happens in our lives that we don't want to blurt to all the "friends" on FB.

So anyway, back to the message.  I found out that while my mom and dad were enjoying coffee that day at the nursing home, Mom started speaking gibberish and then collapsed, passing out.  Dad caught her and yelled for the nurses.  Mom was rushed to the ER where they found a mass in her colon.  There was a lot of speculation as to what it could be but we were praying for a miracle and trusted that God knew what needed to happen and we'd find out eventually.

I have two sisters and a brother back in my home town and they are awesome.  Taking turns they stayed with Mom and Dad at the hospital.  Saturday night we didn't know much, other than she was there and there was a mysterious mass.  

At church on Sunday, I didn't know that Robb had told our pastor and there was a prayer during the service for Mom.  *sob*  I had to go stock my purse with Kleenex during the next hymn as my hands weren't keeping up.  After church, we took the girls out to lunch and Maddy took off straight from the restaurant to head north again.  While working on the prom dress, I got word that the mass was most likely cancer and the options were bleak.  So Meri's prom dress, anyway, was worked on with blood, sweat and now tears.  I'm sure Maddy's wedding dress will too.  It already has some blood from a poked finger...  

A lot of prayers were silently spoken that night.  Even for Meri because she wanted to see her Grandma.  She begged me to let her go spend the night at the hospital with her.  She won.  She drove solo three hours, getting there around 9pm and stayed with Mom so Dad could go home and get some sleep.  I had to call the school the next morning to say she wouldn't be there.  After much blubbering, the secretary just said, "I'll tell the teachers that she's sick.  ok?"  

The next day, a colonoscopy got scheduled for Tuesday.  Melanie got so many conflicting answers from too many doctors.  The speculation for the mass ranged from cancer to a pool of hardened blood since Mom had lost more blood since arriving at the hospital.  We prayed harder that it was just hardened blood.  We had hope for that miracle and the day was easier to live through.  Robb and I planned a day trip for Tuesday.  During the drive there, we got a message that it was actually cancer and it was blocking her colon completely.  So the surgery was being planned for Thursday.

It was hard to seem upbeat and positive but with my gift of gab, Robb let me jabber away with Mom telling her everything about anything.  She just held my hand and thanked God with Dad that they'd had so many children that cared.  *sob*  Then Robb and I had to head home.  

The surgery was moved up to Wednesday around noon.  So after discussing with Robb, I planned to turn around the next morning and head back alone for a couple days.  He became Mr. Mom for the duration and as soon as Leon was on the early bus Wednesday, I headed out.  I tried to cry it all out during the trip so my face could clear up by the time I got there.  My mom and dad are so cute...

Unfortunately I had a couple phone conference calls to make and I'd told my boss I'd work from the hospital, so after I hugged Mom just before surgery, I went and settled with the laptop in the surgery waiting room and attended the calls.  I felt like I was more intimidating and emphatic than I'd ever been before in the meetings...  "We NEED you to DO this!"  I remember saying.  Well, they DO...  

During my calls, Dad and Melanie ran out got some lunches for us.  Then my dad had me message his sister to let her know what's going on.  She called him immediately.  We found out that her husband was having some major heart issues and they were flying him from Texas where they'd been snowbirds, back to town Thursday and will be arriving at the exact same hospital Mom was at.  How convenient is THAT?!

The surgery went well.  And after a couple hours, Mom came back to the new room that they'd moved us to during surgery.  She was miserable and confused.  With her dementia, she forgot anything that was told to her, thankfully but unfortunately.  We instructed the nurses to not mention the cancer around her.  As far as Mom was concerned, the mass they removed was infection and that's what made her have to come here.  You don't know my mom.   If she gets something like this in her head, she won't let go.  She'll fixate on it and worry over it non-stop.  Even with the forgetting, her brain will work on it behind the scenes making her anxious without her knowing why. 

An Illinois sister sent flowers that had (I repeat HAD) candy in the base.  YaY!

Whenever Mom moved, her incision would scream at her and she'd ask "What do you suppose is making me be in such pain right here?"  Well you had surgery today Mom.  "OH!  What for?!"  

and there we would be again.

I stayed with Mom Wednesday afternoon, night and until 5 on Thursday.  The night was pretty rough.  Mom has good hearing and the pullout couch makes a lot of crinkle noises.  

At 11pm, a visitor came in the room with a quick knock and flipping the light on.  He had two pizzas in his hands.  I sat up stunned and he pointed at Mom as he walked to the bed as if to say, "She ordered this!"  I said, "Can I help you?"  and he walked closer to the bed still pointing.  He realized he was in the wrong room as I told him the same thing and embarrassed, he left, turning the light off as he went.  yikes...  He could've left me a slice...

The nurses finally got her pain managed but when the meds wore off, you could sure tell.  

Morning came too quick.

 At lunchtime Thursday, my brother wanted to meet up with me for lunch.  My sister from Wisconsin and one of her daughters were supposed to arrive soon but Dad was with Mom so I left for a bit.  Visited quick with another sister who was helping with a Radiothon for the Children's Miracle Network downstairs in the hospital.  Her son was the preemie born 6 years ago and was their own little miracle.  He IS a poster child for their efforts!  

That's him.  

So I walked across the street to meet up with Mark.  While walking, I called my Wisc sister to see what their ETA was.  She said, "We're having a quick lunch across the street from the hospital before we go up and see Mom."  seriously???  I'm on my way THERE to have a quick lunch with our brother!  So the four of us had a great lunch over there then we came back to the hospital.  

My sister and Mom.

My niece.  She's a professional model and made me delete the photo where she looked like she was half asleep... ;)

After visiting for a bit, my dad, niece and I went down to see Kristin again and to enter some raffle tickets, then headed to the elevators.  

At the elevator, I was explaining to my niece why Brae was on the poster and how his mom had gotten so involved in the Miracle network.  A few nurses were waiting with us and got on the same elevator as we did.  They must have overheard because they exclaimed, "WE know Braedon!"  you do?  "We work in the NICU! Of course we know him!"  Wow!  I pointed to each of us, "aunt, grandpa and cousin"  

small world!  But big hospital!  What were the odds?

Brae is a rock star...

As of Thursday, Mom was coming back to her old self, JUST a little.  But was dying for something to drink.  Up to this point she'd only gotten the little pink sponge sticks to roll around her mouth.  The nurse in training had stopped in to see Mom and schooled us on what NPO means. NOTHING BY MOUTH.  Then proceeded to sweetly ask "Miss Connie" if she would like a dinner tray.  I suppose so she could yell "WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE!!"   Mom did get a little juice that day... :)

I left around five on Thursday and headed home.  Mom was in good hands and getting better with each minute.  I think you can tell by how snippy she was starting to get with the nurses.  In her mind, she is READY to go home.  

With the dementia, the family has decided to forgo chemo or radiation treatments as they'll just be too hard on Mom and give the dementia a kick every time.  

So the cancer will grow again.  How quickly, we don't know.  

But Thanks be to God, we've got more time now with this wonderful lady and I'll take whatever time we get.