Doing Laundry Like I Don't Care!

Last Saturday, Robb and I went on a road trip to see Mom and Dad's grave.  We hadn't seen the gravestone since it had been installed.  

We took Meri and her bf with us for the day.  They must be getting serious if he's willing to spend the whole day with us! in a car!

The cemetery was pretty emotional for us.  If I was able to redo 2019, I know a few things I could have done to make it a better one.  The outcome would probably be the same, but I'd feel slightly better about certain things.  Not a lot, but slightly.

After we left Nebraska, we headed to my home town in Iowa to see a few siblings.  Nothing family related had been planned for my side of the family since we didn't have the party room at the nursing home anymore and no real reason to GET together.  I guess that's how it happens when the previous generation moves on.

We'll need to make more efforts.

We got to my sister's place first.  It was the same house where I grew up.  But she owns and boards horses so Meri and Shub went on an exploration of the property while the rest of us visited.

I had sewn 52 pillowcases for various family/friends on my Christmas list.  All out of my fabric stash and it looks like I haven't made a dent...  

I also sewed 4 wool ponchos with built in scarves for the girls of my immediate family as well as the shirts/hoodies for the boys.  More on those another time.  

We then visited another sister who had just moved into a fantastic house in the hills/mountains of Iowa.  I didn't think Iowa had roads that if you drove around a corner, suddenly all you'd see was hood and sky and no road.  Take it on faith and keep going and you'll see it.  I hadn't been on a road like that since Jerome, Arizona.  YIKES!  But the house was totally worth it.  My sister got it for a song and thankfully her husband and son are contractors. They're spending their quiet winter months overhauling various areas of the property and house.  Amazing!  Vaulted ceilings, storage galore, two fireplaces. wow.  They've got a lot of work to do, but what a gem.

After that, we met up with my brother and his gf at ye ol' pizza joint that we've been to since babyhood.  YUM... His kids showed up with their kids and after the kids had run out of quarters for the arcade, I handed out more pillowcases.  

I'm thinking the blacked out place on the menu board was anchovies.  I remember them always offering it but I wonder if anyone actually put them on their pizzas...

Shub got introduced to everyone everywhere and with any luck, will pass the quiz that I've devised, this weekend. ;)  Just kidding!  We probably won't see him again until he's over the fright of spending so much time with us this past week.

Like 2021.

We got home late that night.  I spent most of Sunday and free time on Monday finishing the ponchos.  Whew!  The only things left to sew to complete Christmas presents are Leon's hoody, Ryan's hoody (needs Jen to paint it) and a shirt for Jen of her choosing.  She has some ideas and I'll get on that later this week.

On Sunday night, our nephew and his gf came over for supper.  Meri, Shub, Ryan and Jen came too.  We had a great game night after dinner of Chameleon.  What a hoot!  Yet another game where you can win if you are good at lying.  It worries me that Meri is a champ at this...  Robb has a tell.  Josh has a go to answer of "zoom zoom" and then we know he's probably lying.  Every time Shub thought I was the liar, he'd apologize first.  "I'm really so sorry.. but... I think... YOU'RE... the chameleon..."  

Like I'm going to forbid him to date my daughter and/or kick him out of the house! lol!

On Christmas Eve, my SIL and I started this puzzle.  I was at this point yesterday morning 

and by afternoon finished it.  YAY!  

It takes my SIL's kids two hours to put one together.  But with her and me and a couch that roaches your lower back, it takes a week.  I finally wised up New Years Eve and moved the whole puzzle shebang to the dining room table.  We won't need the table until Meri's birthday party next week anyway.

Wow, so that was last weekend and it's Thursday...  I had to work Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday night, after church, I made some cheesy bean dip as is tradition and Robb and I inhaled a bunch until we celebrated New Years with the people somewhere in New Zealand or the middle of the Atlantic. We were in bed and asleep by 10pm.  Aren't we the wild and crazy old folks?

We haven't done the bagpipes thing for a few years.  No one has mentioned it but who knows what next year holds?

 Spent my New Years Day cleaning the house and doing laundry.  Someone said that doing laundry on NYD is bad luck.  I think it's worse luck if you don't have clean clothes to wear...   

Oh well.  I'm not a superstitious sort so it doesn't affect me.  

I'm intent on getting back into the blogging routine.  We'll see how that goes!  

Also want to come visit you guys more!

  

Have a wonderful new year!  May it be better than the last one in a hundred different ways.

An Anniversary

You need to cry hard every once in a while just to remember...  everything...

I don't intentionally and this week has been tough.  

My parents would have been celebrating their 62nd anniversary yesterday.  

I managed to watch a couple movies this week.  ok 3.  

The first one made me wonder why it was made.  I won't even tell you the name of that one, but it was a good diversion.  The other two made me sob for the last half hour of each. hard.

So I think I have a couple new favorites.  Like Father was great and I was able to see what to expect on our upcoming cruise, it reminded me vividly of Dad's hugs.  However, the language was atrocious.  How many F words CAN you fit into a movie and yet make your audience cry?...  Apparently 162 is the magic number.  

It was the hug that got me in that one.  I could feel Dad's arms around me.

I'm the baby in this one.

BUT my new absolute favorite now is About Time.  That quirky love story snuck up on me and the last half hour, I happened to be somewhere public.  SHOOT!!!  Excuse me, do you have any tissues here?  I shut it down and waited until I got home to finish it.  Good thing too!  It was ugly, ugly tears

I'm the one standing next to my brother, who happens to be at Burning Man this week.

Live each day like it's your third time through it and you're noticing every little wonderful thing God made for you.

From their 50th anniversary.

Happy Heavenly Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Wanting Memories

Wow, it's been a while!  Not a lot of sewing done...  And neither Meri nor I got into AGT.  But that's ok.  The odds were not in our favor.

But I've been spending every Saturday and the odd night during the week over with Mom.  So this post will be hard to write.  

Last week, we were on a lot of Facetime calls with Mom and Dad, and various siblings.  The time was close and we knew it.  Mom had been unconscious most of the week already, but we used our facetime calls to sing to her, pray with her and let her know that we loved her.  

On Friday morning, after two of my sisters and my dad had been with her 24/7 for a good chunk of the week, they were all exhausted.  I couldn't bear the thought of Mom being there alone in case she passed away and no one was there.  I dropped all and went.  I figured I'd still have my afternoon meeting from the nursing home and talk to my boss about work stuff then.  I brought Dad some lunch and after we ate together in front of Mom, I went to my meetings.  

I explained some work stuff to my boss and asked his advice.  He said, "Where are you?  Why are you there? What are you talking to me for? Your parents need you.  Can't this wait until later next week?"  Well, yes it can!  I was feeling too responsible and felt it needed to get discussed.  My priorities were a bit skewed.  I have a great boss.

So I spent the rest of the day talking with Dad. 

Found out about his best memory with Mom (their wedding day) and we even watched a little Jeopardy after supper.  But then Dad was tired too and I knew that recliner was not going to cut it for him for the night.  again...  So he went home.    He didn't want to but knew that he needed sleep.  He was planning on coming back at midnight but accidentally took his sleepy pills at bedtime and wasn't going to be able to drive until 3am, upon which time, he finally fell asleep.

Somewhere around 4am, I decided what was the point of trying to get any more sleep.  Every time I woke during the night, I watched an episode of a dumb dumb show that I've got queued up on Netflix and then I was able to get my mind clear enough to sleep a little bit longer.  The recliner was positioned in such a way that if I threw my hips out on the right, I could relax on a pillow and still have my hand on Mom's arm.

Around 6am, I started playing Youtube videos for Mom to listen to.  Mostly choir videos that Meri and Maddy had performed in.  One especially took my breath away as it reminded me of her a lot.  It's below.

I ran out of videos and after the nurse checked her vitals around 7:15, I asked Mom (without expecting an answer) what shall we do next?  Shall I read to you?  I found her tattered and worn Bible sitting on the bed stand behind the recliner.  I got comfy, took Mom's hand and started reading from John 1:1, which is the loveliest passage that I could think of.  

In the Beginning was the Word.  And the Word was with God and the Word was God....

and I just kept on reading.  Mom's breathing was in the background as I read.  As I got about half way into chapter 6, the feeding of the 5000, I suddenly realized that I wasn't hearing Mom's breathing anymore.  Up to this point, she was waiting about 30 seconds between breaths, but as I stopped reading and looked at her expecting her to take a deep breath, I realized that I may have missed her last.  Oh Mom...

She left this life doing the exact thing that gave her life meaning.

I knew she wasn't there anymore but she was getting reacquainted with her parents and meeting Jesus face to face in heaven.  I know I should be happy for her and I am. 
But there are still a lot of tears to go with my family and her memories.  

I messaged my siblings first and a sister brought my Dad over within 10 minutes.  Two other sisters arrived about the same time.  The aides were great and brought us coffee while we had our last visiting session with Mom present (but not).  Dad was hit the hardest of this group.  He had wanted to be there when she passed.  And even though he's had a good long time to prepare for it, it still shocked him anyway.  That fact added on to the fact that he'd had about 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, wasn't good for him either.  His doctor prescribed him something strong to get some sleep that afternoon.    Poor Dad.

Eventually we all said our goodbyes to Mom and left her in the hands of the aides to get her ready for the next step.   And I headed home to get my family ready for a funeral.

And I'm wanting more memories with my mom.

Semblances of Normality

A break from the California stories to get caught up on life in general.

Last week was Valentine's Day!!!  My sweetheart sent me roses..  Aren't they beautiful?

They're still blooming and lovely. I'm pretty lucky...

Leon needed a box for his Valentine's Day party at school, so he called Dibbies on my flower box.  Mine came in the mail.  Pretty convenient for Leon!  He initially said that he didn't want to decorate it, but changed his mind after I cut out the opening.

His party was a lot of chaos and fun.  He got a bunch of candy to get loaded up for the weekend with.

On Saturday, Robb, Meri and I headed for my hometown to see Mom and Dad.  Mom gets carted around in a wheelchair now, much to her disgust, but it's saving her some energy.

She doesn't leave her room much anymore, but we were able to take her down for coffee and visit in the activity room.  Meri did her hair while we talked and I remembered that Mom always loved for us girls to do her hair for her in years past.  She secretly hoped that one of us would be a hair dresser.

Much like my secret hope that one of my kids would end up as a chiropractor...

Oh well.

I loved my pics with Dad too!  He's going through a lot right now.  

Our time with Mom is getting shorter and sooner than anyone is comfortable with.

Any siblings available have been getting on FB messenger facetime app with Mom and Dad every day for the past week.  I don't know why we didn't think of it earlier.  It's been great and Mom can see everyone.  What an awesome invention!

She asked, "Now who is paying for this call?"

Um.. no one.  It's free!

20 years ago, this was all so futuristic!

We got home late afternoon on Saturday.  On Sunday, after church, Robb and I went to pick up Leon and we treated him for lunch at a Burger King with a play land.  His kind of joint!

Then he played in the snow in our yard for much of the afternoon.  

Only coming inside to switch out frozen gloves.  

A neighbor kid invited him over to play in the snow too and they had a great time until they had a fight.  It's all fun and games until it's suddenly not.  Boys...

 These are the same boys who played in the neighbor across the streets yard after getting off the bus last Wednesday...  I won't tell the neighbors who messed up their side walk and pristine yard...

I'm pretty sure they don't read me.

Leon wanted ice cream for dessert and so after googling for a bit, we found a recipe to make snow ice cream with ingredients that we had.  It turned out really good and he enjoyed it for about three bites.  Robb and I finished his off while we DUOed with Maddy and Matthew.

This is the snow that we accumulated over the weekend.  YUCK!  It's SO deep and our driveway isn't even to the pavement yet.  The snowblower wouldn't go that close as it's packed down really good.  We're supposed to get more this weekend.

If nothing else, Leon is LOVING it.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to since getting back to the frozen tundra that is my home.

I Survived the Polar Vortex and other weekend adventures

Friday night, I was BORING and sewed as much as I could.  I'm working on a couple more tops for the L.A. trip, that fit me nicely.

Left early Saturday morning and went to a large group contest at a high school in Des Moines.  Not that we HAVE any kids in high school, but Meri had offered to direct mostly seniors in their Readers Theater performance as they were going to have to do it without one.  

The performance was amazing!  Nine kids with just stools and black binders made me really believe they were stuck in a classroom during a shutdown at the school with possibly a gunman in the hall.

It got all 1s, which means that they were pretty fantastic, which I've already told you.  We find out today if they get to go to All-State.  Meri was pretty pumped!  The kids in the group have told her that she'll have to commute from whatever big city she moves to next year, at least twice a week, to direct again.  

I guess that decides it.  I have to buy a lottery ticket.

Robb and I got home at a decent time and I was able to sew some more.  I got one of the shirts completed and wore it that afternoon.  When Meri got back from her bus ride back with the students, she, Robb and myself headed to Hometown, Iowa to see my Mom and Dad.

The trip is either getting longer or shorter, depending on how many Facebook quizzes I put Robb through.  So far he's a Star Trek Captain and in another 14 years old.

The visit with my folks was bitter sweet.  

and nope.  Teresa's flowers just didn't stand the test of time...

Mom spent most of the time there in her bed and she has been spending more and more time there instead of being the active woman she usually is there.  Her skin is darker and she gets pretty quiet a lot.

We were able to stay a couple hours and then after Dad left, we made sure Mom made it down to the dining room for supper.  She would have forgotten.

Leaving is hard.  Even harder when we know that we won't be able to see her for two weeks.  And if even then depending on God's plans.

So the drive home was difficult and that horrible hour long dead zone killed any quizzes that FB might have offered to lighten the mood.  

We did stop and pick up some of our college town pizza for the drive and eating always helps.

After church on Sunday, Meri asked me to come help her clean up her apartment.  Her roommates were mostly gone for the weekend and their landlord had called to let them know that he was bringing in a prospective new renter for when the least is up.  In August.

So while Robb and Leon did some grocery shopping for us, I helped Meri clean things up a bit.  The place was looking pretty swank and Meri was happy.  Sick with a cold still, but happy.

That afternoon, we did some fix up on the dog.  Reedus had been licking his legs and then biting them.  What kind of cannibalistic  dog do we have?!  So we had to make sure he was going to heal quickly before any infection steps in. 

For the record, Reedus HATES the cone of shame...  Robb thinks because the only color they had was purple.  How unmanly!  

So far, Reedus is still coping and I had to reinforce the thing with duct tape.  He's in it forever now and banging up against every doorway or furniture piece.  Poor thing.  He gets more treats tho.

Leon got out his Legos and did some actual playing with the sets he's done instead of building them.  The creation below is for a zombie appocolypse where the zombies are outside and the survivors inside the gates.  There are three survivors.  

Sounds lonely.

BUT the survivors have two incredible beasts on their side of the war.  Leon's Lego dragon and a giant Lego spider.  The odds are better now.

 We were able to DUO with Maddy for a little bit and found out that Reedus's problem must be hereditary, because while we knew that Duke had done the same thing with his legs, it's actually partly an allergic reaction.  I guess we'll be bathing Reedus in calamine lotion once his legs heal up...  Or sneak allergy pills into his food...  ;)  I kid.  But we'll definitely not let it get this far again!

Silly dog...

While we were talking with Maddy, suddenly Robb's DUO started ringing.  It was Matthew, from their living room!  So we put the two phones together for Maddy and her husband could talk, even tho he was a mere six feet away in the other room...  He was watching the Superbowl game and had accidentally called Robb.  A pretty round about way to say hi to your wife, but whatever!

newly weds... :)

And thank goodness the Polar Vortex is over!  Robb was kidding on a FB post that he really loved the Polar Vortex as it gave him a good excuse to get out of chores.

Robb: Am I alone in missing the polar vortex? Perfect excuse for nearly everything. No I can't attend. Polar vortex. Or no I can't take the garbage out. Polar vortex.

Some of the comments were even funnier.

 Nicholas: I miss the polar vortex too.  No I can't clean the bathroom. Polar vortex.

Tim: Not sure what happened to Robb, officer... Polar Vortex

Carl: Can't miss something you didn't have                       < he lives in Colorado.
    Robb:  Carl - Oh we had the polar vortex.  It's 50 now so it was more of a bipolar vortex.

Not that the Polar Vortex really inhibited me from doing anything that I wanted to do...  As long as the cars were starting, we really had no excuses.  And it made some fun science experiments.  But Robb did ask that I not put his new frying pan on the deck during -50 degree weather anymore...

Even if for a science project that we didn't understand how to do.

As Unflattering As I Can Get

On Friday, Robb got a call from his cousin to meet them about an hour away for dinner.  We met up with Frank and his lovely wife at the fanciest hotel in town and they got a shuttle bus to take us to the restaurant.  

Frank's wife was traveling overseas on Sunday and they wanted a romantic weekend away from the kids before she left.  Of course, that involves inviting your favorite aunt and cousin out for dinner.

The restaurant we went to was not for the frugal.  Leon's burger alone was $15 and he only had a single bite then said he was full.  Um yeah... we're going to want to box that up!

Leon got along fantastic with Joy and envied her phone.  

I got the $23 Sweet potato lasagna and secretly coveted Robb's $28 prime rib...  I didn't know how much until after I took Leon to the rest room, I came back and Robb had snuck a piece of it into my fork.  Thinking it was the lasagna, I got a surprise! :)  

On Saturday, Robb, Meri and I headed to hometown Iowa to see Mom and Dad.  Two sisters were there too and we had a blast picking on each other.  The chaos was reminiscent of when we were young and still in the house together.  Mom and Dad just sat back and shook their heads.  Dad mostly.

Mom just smiled and enjoyed taking pics with everyone.

Even when we looked door knobby.

That's the picture that Mom had sent back for Leon to color from last weekend.  He completed it and sent it back for her to hang on her wall.

Meri and a cousin got to spend a little time together too.  Bethany came with us to pick up the pizzas for a lunch and the girls talked non-stop.  I'll just be over here...

 Dad got in on some pictures too.  

As unflattering as this one was, I think it was the best of me over the weekend... :\

And this was the best of my sister, Teresa.

And my other sister Melanie.

Darn it anyway...  Teresa made sure that she held the flowers she brought for Mom so I couldn't claim them as coming from me this time.

Did it anyway.

In a FB group chat, I posted this.

Look at that...  Taking credit for the flowers...

 "Okay Val, nice try!!!!"

After that, Teresa took as many unflattering pics of me as she could and Meri even jumped on the band wagon and sent Teresa a ton of pics she kept on her phone of me being a bad model..

Thanks Mere... 

All in all, it was a great weekend with family.  On the way out of town, we stopped by the cell phone store where another sister is a manager.  Unfortunately, Teresa and Ken had already beat us there and had her monopolized... REALLY?!!! LOL  So it was another inpromptu family reunion at Verizon.

We got introduced to all of Kristin's honorary nephews and nieces who work there.

We got home late afternoon and then Meri and I holed up in Leon's room to apartment shop in L.A. for her.  Out of all the reviews that we found stating that one had roaches, another had drug deals going down all the time and another that had some other form of pests or bad management, we found three for me to call today in her price range.  With any luck, we'll be able to see the apartments while we're in L.A. for the AGT audition.  

I spent the evening sewing and completed this shirt.

I had planned on having thumb holes on the sleeves, but after it was done, the end of the sleeves looked like they just had holes.  So I stitched them up.  They're just sleeves now.

Working on a new purse since yesterday, as my handmade suede one is looking real poorly...  I'll need a new purse to go along with my new shirt in L.A. anyway.  Colorwise it won't match, but oh well.  At least it won't look like it's falling apart and filthy.

Back at my desk and feeling like I could use another weekend.  A cold is hitting me today.

Looking forward to soaking in the sun in a warm climate...

Weekend stands for Winter

On Friday, Leon started drawing his Charmander picture.  He was so proud of it and it's now hanging on his bedroom wall.  It's the biggest picture he's done so far, on an 8X10 sheet of paper so he called it a poster.

I asked him to draw a Godzilla again, because he did one a week or so ago that was amazing!  He did with his finger on my phone drawing app and sent it to his dad and grandpa. 

The phantom snow finally hit on Friday, started AROUND noonish and lasted until the next morning.  There was no way Robb could take Leon to his mom's on Friday night and Ryan couldn't make it home due to icy roads, so Leon got super secret permission to watch a movie with me.  He's been grounded for 3 weeks.  One almost down now.

The next morning, Robb took Leon in one direction and because we were apprehensive about snow, I held off on heading to my parents until 11.  This way, I'd arrived just after their "after lunch" nap.  Meri's plans for Saturday were prematurely cancelled due to possible blizzard problems, so she came with me. 

But since I had the morning free, I took the Christmas tree down.  AND against my better judgement, I threw a perfectly good clove encrusted orange away.  It was mostly mummified and didn't give off the wonderful Christmas scent anymore... and was probably wrecking the window sill finish...

The living room looks nekkid.

When Robb got back, I asked him to take down the Christmas cards.  He always says that he never gets to see them and even though I had an "in your face" display of them this year, he still hadn't taken the time to see who they were from. 

So this gave him a great opportunity to see everyone's greetings.  And Rachel wins for the one that cracked him up the most.  Sorry Sluggy! Apparently Rachel is more warped than you... ;)

 Promptly at 11, Meri and I took off for hometown Iowa.  The roads were clear, dry and sunny. No winter problems at ALL! We got there JUST as the Pokeno game was starting and there was no way Dad was going to miss that.  He's mildly diabetic and if he doesn't win candy, he can get growly...  :)

The final game was a blackout and we ran out of the red chips, so Meri started improvising with the jelly packets, which fit the spaces perfectly.  I tried with sugar packs and while they kind of worked, jelly packets would have been better.  Oh well.

The game finally got over and my parents finally hugged us hello!  We went to Mom's room and visited for a while.  I showed them lots of photos of the fam on my laptop.

I forgot some laminated signs in the car that we'd promised my sister we'd hang in Mom's room, so Meri ran out to get them before we left.  Dad said his goodbyes and headed out too.  Last week, Mom had misplaced her dentures after a nap and if I'd gotten there early on Saturday, I was supposed to look for them.  Since I couldn't get there early, Melanie did and finally found them in a garbage bag in the bathroom.  YIKES!!!  If an aide would have taken out the garbage like she should have, they'd have been long gone...    So Melanie made the signs for Meri and I to tape to the garbage cans and above the one in the bath to ask the help to ask Mom if she has her dentures before they take out the trash.  I hope she doesn't lose them again! 

Then Mom walked us to the door and it took another 30 minutes to say goodbye.  I got a little goofy while Meri took some pictures and so that it wouldn't look like I was flipping the bird, she moved further to the left.  whew!

See?  It was innocent rabbit ears.

Meri got her pics with Grandma in too.  

More hugs at the door.  These more serious.

Mostly...  Until my laptop strap fell and hit Mom's hand.

Then she was all "the straight man" like, "Why does this always happen to me?"

Several hugs later...

 And a second plugging in the code to open the door without sounding the alarm, and we were off.

Mom likes us to drive past the doors when we leave so she can wave goodbye one last time, so we obliged.  It take a few miles to gain our composure after that... every week...

We got home at a decent time.  On Sunday, I actually got some sewing done!  After mis-cutting the fabric three times, I finally have 4 chair covers made for Maddy and Matthew.  They're not done yet as they have some fine tuning for fit to do and a hem and ribbons to sew on.  

They'll get there... 

With maybe a tablecloth to match!

Today, this is my view while I work.  Leon's little brother is here for the day due to some daycare issues with his mom's new job.  He leaves tonight. He is MUCH better than he was the last time he visited.  However he's a little sick in the diaper area..  ewww..  tmi.

Ok, that's enough of over exposure.  Have a great week!  I hope to come visit all of my faves this week!  It's been crazy and I apologize!  Hope to get caught up soon.