Uncle Marcel

All Beauregard men love babies. If you are a Beauregard man, carry that to its logical conclusion and don't even try to deny it. You love babies.

Papa was used to having babies in his life since his mother was having them regularly almost right up to the time when he moved away from home. Imagine his delight when, after five years of marriage the first baby finally came along. Marcel was the sun and the moon.

One story Papa told me about this first baby had to do with his bottle. Marcel was very attached to his bottle. They thought that when Bernie came along Marcel would be willing to give up his bottle, but alas, no. There were two bottles set aside for Marcel and the rest were for Bernie. Marcel could tell his apart (I'm not sure how, I know they weren't different colors or anything and they were all glass) and would have a fit if Mama tried to use one of his on Bernie. They respected his wishes but Papa told him to be very careful with his bottles because if they got broken they would not be replaced. Marcel understood and accepted this.

There came a time when Marcel was down to his last bottle. Papa had taken him for a walk and Marcel enjoyed his bottle on the way. On the way home, in front of the house next door to them, Marcel dropped the bottle and it broke. Marcel couldn't believe his eyes. He looked at that bottle for the longest time and finally said "broken" (I'm translating from the French here). He accepted his fate and continued walking up to and into the house.

At this point in the story, Papa got a little misty and said that he had to hurry into the house himself so that the neighbors wouldn't see him crying.


Marcel, with his long blond curls was a beautiful baby, I've seen pictures. The long curls did him in one day when a neighbor child marched up to his front door and when Mama answered the door the child said "Your little girl hit me". Mama said "I don't have a little girl". The child's incredulous reply was "Is Marcel a boy"?

One of the percs of being the oldest was manifest one winter evening when Marcel declared that there would be no "Lucy" in his living room when the Stanley Cup Playoffs were being televised. No one breached this edict.

The Strap

The strap was made of leather. The words "Hand Tooled" come to mind even though I'm not exactly sure what that means. The shape of the handle was like handle shapes I have seen on cheese cutting boards. Comfortable in the hands. It was 3 or 4 inches wide and maybe a foot or more long. It lived on a hook in the basement stairwell.

When the strap came off the hook, the going mantra was "Iwill,Iwill,Iwill,Iwill," even though, as Monica pointed out, most of the time it should have been "I won't." Nothing could put more butterflies in the stomach than seeing that strap come off the hook.

We girls, in our upstairs bedroom, liked to have a good time. Sometimes that good time involved getting in and out of bed and maybe some chasing around the room and into the closet. As an adult, when I could cross the room in two steps it didn't seem possible that I could have been winded from running around in it. Also, when 2 sisters were playing and leaving 1 sister out of the game (perhaps the youngest one) the left-out person was able to retaliate with "I'm going to call Mama."

Then, if Ms "left-out" couldn't be persuaded otherwise the chant would begin. "Mama,-- Mama,-- Mama,-- Mama," When there was no response we would start with "Papa,-- Papa,-- Papa,-- Papa." There were times when we were sure there was going to be no response and in a fit if giggles would all start with "Mapa,-- Mapa,-- Mapa,-- Mapa."

More often than not, there was a response and it would be in the form of a warning. Sometimes, what was going on upstairs, just got funnier and funnier and the giggling was just too far gone to stop abruptly. After the warnings came the footsteps. At that point things got serious as a crutch.

If the footsteps were on the way up, we could be sure the strap was in hand. Oh, My, God, how did we ever let things get to that point? Papa appears, the scrambling begins, three voices chanting "Iwill,Iwill,Iwill,Iwill." I don't remember Papa ever getting "nothing but air." He hit flesh with every swing. Later, Marcel admitted that he and Bernie used to follow Papa up there just to watch. I don't know how come they weren't in bed.

When I bought the house on Navy, we found that strap on top of a cupboard in the basement. Its bottom edges were frayed. Papa's famous last words on the subject "We never actually hit you kids with it."

Aunt Monica

Aunt Monica was a stubborn child. Everything she did was done with determination and perseverance. Unfortunately, her look of determination could be (and often was, by my father) interpreted as a scowl or frown. Thus she got the reputation of being angry a lot of the time.

Both Rita and Marcel's "first, clearest memory" of her was when she would go down the basement (sent by Rita) to get a kitten. Needing all four of her limbs to maneuver the steps the poor chosen kitten would get crushed on each step on the way up. I'm not sure how it got back down, but I can't imagine it was allowed to stay upstairs once my mother got wind of it.

Monica was always a tiny thing and I remember that she had to take a vitamin (possibly iron) every day. It was a little brown round pill and I was jealous of the fuss made over her to take that pill every day, until one day I smelled the pill and after that I was glad it wasn't me that had to take it.

I don't know if that is what motivated me to eat so much, but it wasn't long before I usurped her place in the hand-me-down clothes chain. As I think about it now, I think, "Poor baby, its bad enough to have to wear your big sister's clothes, but your little sister's?"

We used to receive "charity" boxes of clothes from the parish. My mother was a wonderful seamstress and would alter the clothes and sometimes even remake them for us. At one point, there must have been a family in the parish that had twins and donated their clothes to charity because Monica and I had matching outfits. I thought it was wonderful, but Monica was pissed.

I remember that when Papa got home from work and was relaxing with a cold beer before dinner, he would take Monica on his lap and give her sips of beer. It occurs to me now that it might have had something to do with beer being a treatment for anemia. I know for sure, it had nothing to do with him liking her better than me.

Working Girl

The very first "job" I remember was as for a lady on Whittaker right across from Bennett School. I just needed to cross the alley, go through a yard, through the playground and across the street almost directly even with our own house on Navy. I was more "mother's helper" than babysitter although we called it babysitting. I would go over after school and take the kids for a walk round and round the block. Occasionally friends would join me for these walks. In inclement weather I would play with the kids (2) and keep them occupied while mom went about her business

My last chore of the day was to feed the baby his bottle while the mom fixed dinner. When he finished his bottle I went home to my own dinner. I used to try to prolong his bottle because the mom would always listen to "Our Gal Sal" (a radio soap opera) on the radio at that time and I didn't want to have to leave in the middle of it. I got quite hooked on it. I used to pull the bottle out of the baby's mouth during the good parts (he made so much noise gurgling). But I always put it back in before he started to cry.

One wintry day the mom sent me to the store for something. The store was across Vernor about even with her house. The route to the store was through her back yard, across the alley, through the parking lot of what became Sammy's Pizzaria and across Vernor.

We Beauregard children never left the house in wintertime without our boots. This lady said "You don't need your boots for that short trip, just hurry". I was appalled, and exhilarated, and excited and apprehensive. I kept looking down at my school shoes as they boldly walked on the cold pavement with patches of ice and even patches of snow which had to be avoided at all costs lest someone (Papa) notice that my school shoes had been wet.

Negotiating through that parking lot was harder than I thought it would be and there were a few close calls on slippery ice. I came to appreciate the need for rubber boots. I was so relieved when I completed my mission without falling or getting anything wet, I vowed never to complain about having to wear boots again.

I think I probably broke that vow.

Aunt Rita

What I learned and knew about Aunt Rita

Rita was a timid child. When my mother needed to get her out from underfoot (remember all those other babies) she would send her out on the back porch on Navy to play. There was no playing on Rita's mind. All she could think of was getting back in. She would stand with her nose pressed against the screen door (which was locked) and either cry or wait patiently till she could go back inside.

When I was about 4, (she would have been 8 and Monica 6) the three girls were sent, every Sunday afternoon to the movies. Saturday was housekeeping chores day and Sunday was movie day. We were each given the 12 cent admission as our "pay" for doing the Saturday chores. There were two movie houses (shows) in the neighborhood, The Rio at the corner of Vernor and Central and the Capital on Vernor, just east of Cunningham's near Springwells. The Capital carried mostly Westerns and Horror movies like "The Mummies Curse" and "The Beast with Five Fingers" and was where all the rough kids went. We "nice" girls went to the Rio. When we left the house, we were admonished "Don't come home till its dark."

The walk from our house on Navy to the corner of Central and Vernor was a long one for a 4 year old and I'm sure "Are we almost there?" became tiresome to Rita. So she invented a game to play on the way. As soon as we rounded the corner onto Vernor, we would start looking for the sign that said Rio. Whoever spotted it first would say "I can see part of the R." The next one would say "I can see all of the I and part of the R" and so on until one of us could see all of the R, all of the I and all of the O.

It didn't matter when time we got there, we just stayed for both movies until we came to the part where we had walked in. After we had seen both complete movies one of us would be sent to the lobby to go look out the front door to see if it was getting dark yet. If it was we would go back and tell Rita and she would take us home. I remember walking home in the dark at Christmastime. Many of the store fronts on Vernor had Christmas trees and decorations. And the Western Auto store had toys and dolls in the window.

This went on for years and I remember being nervous one year because Rita was going to turn 12 and she would then have to pay the 60 cent adult admission. I knew instinctively that times would change then. And they must have.

At the age of 12 Rita became quite ill with an intestinal flu I remember her lying on the couch in the dining room (yes, I said couch and yes I said dining room. What we called the couch was more of a day bed on wheels. It had a bed spring underneath that rolled out and you could put the top cushion on the roll out part and it made a suitable double bed for company. This couch also plays a big part in what we remembered about Gabby. What we now call a couch was a sofa in the living room)

Anyway, Rita was lying on the couch in the dining room being visited by the doctor and nursed back to health. We had to be quiet and be nice to her. When she became ambulatory, the doctor recommended that she get away from the city and into some good country air. My parents had just the place. Remember Eldege and the farm in Canada.

Rita was dispatched with her big brother Bernie as her protector/escort by train to Canada. Bernie was 13. Rita remembers him taking very good care of her. He went to the Kiosk to buy the tickets. Made sure they and their luggage got on the proper trains. I think they had to change trains in Toronto. When Rita felt ill on the train, Bernie found the conductor and told him that his sister was going to be sick. Bernie got her to the space between cars where she could throw up onto the ground.

Not long after she got back she was put into the work force and I don't remember much about her after that. I do know that she used to buy me trinkets occasionally and I always looked up to her. She bought me a key chain with a plastic enclosed engraved rose and my name on it and I still have it.

Uncle Bernie

Things I learned about your Uncle Bernie.

Bernie used to skip school and go to Tiger Stadium (Briggs Stadium then) and sneak into the ball games. His best method for sneaking in was to go by the loading area when the concession stands were unloading supplies. He would grab a box of hot dog buns and take it through the gate. Put the buns down when he got inside and go sit in the bleachers. As the game progressed he would improve his seating position by watching which assigned seats remained empty.

He said he was doing this from the time he was 6 and I was skeptical about that part. But when I thought about it, before he turned 7 my mother had had 4 baby girls and was way too busy to pay attention to him. (For any of you that don't know, there was another sister named Theresa who only lived for a few days. She was born between Rita and Monica) I'm sure Bernie had to be pretty self sufficient by the time he was 6.

There came a time during Bernie's grade school career that he received 7 U's (Catholic school graded U as a failing grade) The priest announced it from the pulpit, although he didn't identify him by name. My mother cried for days.

Marcel and Bernie attended Ford Trade School for their High School years. It seems they rotated one week of school, one week of farm work (families were allowed to reap some of the rewards of the produce) and one week of shop work. This was a work and learn program that paid a salary. In order to receive the 20 cents per hour, they had to maintain a C average. If they got a B average they got a raise to 21 cents per hour. If they got an A average they received 22 cents per hour. Bernie never got less than A's for the rest of his learning career.

His comment was "Those Nuns just never new how to motivate."

No Color, No Brother

No color.
What I mean by no color is that the color was not spectacular like it was five years ago when we were here for a comparable weekend. There was some yellows and browns mixed among the green. But the vistas are still spectacular. We went out water-falling each day. The first excursion required a walk to the falls and after our wonderful picnic lunch (the pork loin is a whole other story) I stayed in that area while the others walked to the falls. I did bring along my cane with a seat and needed to use it even to walk to the place where the best picture of all of us was to be taken and used it to sit on while the picture-taking jockeying went on.

The next excursion - Lori was/is a volunteer with a forest service of some kind so she had friends in the right places. She called ahead and got us permission to drive on the hiking trails, someone met us at the gate to let us through and we were able to drive right up to the water falls. That was at DuPont falls. We set up a time to meet when we were done and he was there to open the gates to let us out. We met many envious people along the way.

The third excursion was to the Looking Glass falls that are visible from the road and we just pulled up and parked for a while. That was on Sunday and we stopped for lunch at a barbecue place called Hawg Wild where we had eaten five years ago. Sure enough, the food was just as good this time.

Color improved considerably on our drive home and we got the spectacular factor thru eastern Tennessee and most of Kentucky.

No brother -
The person that started this whole ball rolling failed to show up at the reunion. Its not important which brother that was but he had trouble with flight connections and ended up going back to LA on Thursday while the rest of us were gathering for that great pork loin dinner. We were all kind of irritated and yes, a little angry (not having been in his shoes) but we got over it and ended up just really sorry we didn't get a chance to see him. Party animal, though he is, we still managed to have a really good time without him.

We played the "blog game" (thanks Stephi) which engendered much discussion and laughter. We three girls were prepared with written remarks while the resident brothers winged it.

Lori, of course was the perfect hostess and. wonderful cook that she is, kept us fed very well. The famous pork loin was so good at dinner that I asked her what she had used as a marinade and she started naming ingredients but when she got to clam sauce I made her stop because I didn't want to have to think of that while I was enjoying the subsequent sandwiches.

Chalet Beauregard is multi leveled with outdoor decks on many levels. So our weather was always good. If it got too hot on the sunny deck, we moved to a shady deck. When it started to get cold in the shade we moved to a sunny deck. When the sun went down we moved inside. We couldn't have found a better "resort" to have a reunion.

We have decided that the next one will be in Uncle John's back yard. One of the many sarcastic barbs aimed at him this weekend. But we have also decided that we all love him like crazy even though our blog game remarks of our "first clearest memories" of him painted him as a spoiled brat.

All in all a great weekend, and its not over yet. Monica is still here for a couple more days and this afternoon we are going to Elise and Larry's.

Tehachapi

That's where the new Endurance is. I just happened to see it by chance. I was still taping the old Hawaii one because I never did see the ending. Megan told me that the grey team won, but I just wanted Yellow to outlast Orange but they didn't.

This year they had one day all together and three girly girls bonded and formed a clique. Then they had the first challenge to eliminate 3 boys and 3 girls and one of the cliquy girls was eliminated.

It is on here at 12:30 pm Saturday afternoon on NBC. That is within a bloc of time that NBC gives over to Discovery Kids shows and I think you can probably find the show and/or reruns on Discovery Kids (Adam found some for me last year when I was in California and had missed a couple of shows)

This week they will be choosing partners. I'll be glad when that happens because then I can just remember them by color and don't have to remember their names or faces.

In other news Monica is coming to town (my town) on Sunday afternoon. She will be staying with Rita and the three of us will be driving together to Brevard, NC on Thursday where we are having a sibling/spouse reunion. All the boys still have spouses. We return here on Monday the 17th and Monica returns home on Thursday the 20th.

Don't say I never tell you anything.

34721 Spring Valley

That's going to be my new address. Rita says they are making all sorts of moving out motions. First of all all the window dressings came down and she could see a ladder in the living room. A few days later, the window dressings went back up and we think that means they had them cleaned and they are painting the interior. This would be very good news to me since I don't want to have to do any of that, but I will if I have to.

The drill is that they will probably file a petition to vacate in October, Those have to be filed during the first 5 days of the month. They would then have 60 days to actually vacate while the resale goes through, but I am assuming that since they are doing all the preliminary work now, they will want the resale to go through as soon as possible. Then they (the corporation) notify me that the unit is for sale and I make arrangements to buy it. In turn I file my petition to vacate (this would probably be November) and I will have 60 days to actually move.

So most likely case scenario I won't be actually moving until Christmastime. Hopefully there will be a several week period where I will have possession of both units and the move can take place in small pieces until its time to bring in all the big pieces, for which I will get a couple of bids ahead of time.

Its exciting and intimidating.

Ambition

I think planning to blog once a week is an admirable ambition for Adam. Its not as easy as Erika makes it look. She, of course has excellent subject matter and it will be hard not to hold Ris to those standards.

Even when I think of something I should blog about, by the time I'm sitting at the computer, I've forgotten what it is. Sometimes I type a whole posting and then it sounds so dumb that I don't even publish it. Then when I remember that I would rather read something than nothing I wonder why I did that.

I have taken Stephi's blog game idea and sent an email to all my siblings suggesting that we "do" each other for our reunion in October. I tweaked the game a little leaving off the wrestling part and the animal part. I have been working on my own responses to each brother and sister and I am mostly stumped on the "What I have always wondered about you" one. I'm afraid I haven't spent much time wondering.

I like the family AR very much. As the show started to climax about who was going to be eliminated I found that I didn't want any of them to be eliminated. Usually there are a few teams that you can't wait to get rid of.

Ummm, Steak

Stephanie said that Texas Roadhouse was Jeff's favorite steak house. Since he was the one I wanted to please, (those birthdays were just an afterthought) that's where we went. What a good choice. The food was great (I just had Erika's leftovers for lunch today), the service was good and the company was delightful.

We stopped by Stephanie's place on the way home and her appartment looked very nice. Turns out Stephanie got her cleaning genes from Dana. I think we should all go out and buy Clorox stock.

All of the younger people went to Motor City except poor Erika who had to take her old mother home. Old mother and Erika had already spent more than 6 hours at Motor City that morning. This was Erika's baby-free, birthday-dinner weekend and she had to spend a lot of it doing my laundry and collecting and carrying my buckets of nickle tokens.

Have I mentioned how much I love my family?

Dr. Hall

She's my new favorite doctor.

She had a plastic spine and showed me in person what was depicted on the mri films. She showed me where the hermiation of my discs were (she described the discs as the soft tissue between the bones of the spinal column - I always thought that the bones themselves were the discs) and how that was causing the narrowed openings for the nerves of the spinal cord.

Since I described my situation as being back to what I have come to consider as normal she doesn't recommend any course of treatment right now. For any future incidents of spasm or pinched nerves I would go directly to her and she would treat with therapy (since I told her that really helped me)and steroid injections before resorting to surgery.

I asked her about the Laser Spine Institute and she said she just didn't know enough about the laser surgery to recommend or discourage it. But she agreed that surgery of any kind should be a remedy of last resort.

shopping

I just finished my xmas/birthday shopping for the 2005/2006 season. The Savings Bonds list has really dwindled even after adding Jackson. Stephanie is fast approaching her last scheduled gift (21st birthday) and the over-18 crowd will now be getting checks instead of bonds until their 21sts.

I am not planning to add the next generation to my list. I will be lucky to remember the ones I already know. In a few years Adam is the only one I will have to remember because Megan and Jackson chose really good dates to be born.

Tennis everyone

These late night matches are hard. I went to bed after Venus won the first set figuring she was going to win the match and I was wrong. Last night I went to bed after Blake won the first two sets. Lucky for me, I had my tv on cbs and woke up about 1:00 am to the cheering crowd. Evidently USA couldn't keep the game on and they threw it back to the cbs network. I couldn't believe they were still playing. I woke up enough to see the tiebreaker. When I went to bed I was happy that Blake was going to win, but when Agasi actually won, I was happier.

Old games, new tricks

Did you know that while you are playing Diamond Mine, hitting any key on the keyboard will pause the game. Well, I can't vouch for any key but certainly any of many keys. Hitting the same or any other key will resume the game.

If you touch the key and hold it down, the poor game will undulate back and forth and you can actually keep playing while this is going on.

Jackson taught me that while I was playing with him on my lap. Such an inventive boy.

Let's Call it a Brace

Here's the thing. When the ailment first started I couldn't clutch anything. I couldn't change gears or steer the car out of the parking space without both hands and great difficulty.

As I followed the doctor's orders by taking tylenol every 6 hours for two weeks the sharp pains got more dull, I could work the gear shift and steering wheel with one hand although painful. I got to a sort of pain plateau and not better. So I got the brace.

It seemed like a magic thing. I could do everything within the limits of the bulk of the brace. I am being careful not to get it wet or get food on it. So this morning after my shower, I forgot to put it back on. I went shopping. I was back to square one in the car. I could hardly turn the key.

So is this backward move worth the comfort of using the brace? Good question for a doctor whom I am about to call.

Our Big East connection

You may remember that Guy, the son of John Robert lives in New Orleans. News is that he and his family successfully evacuated before the storm, all are safe, house has damage but they expect to return by early next week.

I bought some golden ballet shoes. They are very cute and will go well with that gold tank top and over blouse that I have for formal night on the cruise. I got them from a catalogue and when they got here I tried one on and it fit. When I was telling gretchen about them I said "They fit, but I don't know if they will be comfortable". So here's the golden part about travelling with daughters. I continued "I will have Adrienne with me, if they hurt she will go back to the cabin and get the comfortable ones".

Love, the next time around

I met a new slot machine yesterday and I'm in love. I think its true love even tho we've never done the bonus round (there's a euphemism I'm giving away for free) I don't know the name of it, but the lovability comes from a feature called the Scottish Scatter. A little frame that moves from spot to spot while the reels are spinning. After the reels stop, the frame lands on a symbol. If there are 2 or more like symbols anywhere on the screen it acts as a scatter pay.

In other news, people are moving actual furniture out of my new house. Rita spoke to the current owner and they hope to be out by the first of October.

In other, other news, I finally bought a wrist immobilizer for my right wrist. Erika referred to it as a wrist thingy but I shy away from that word because in my married life thingy meant something else. But I digress. I got the immobilizer home last night a put it on right away. It felt fantastic. I woke up about 4 in the am with an itch and a pain I couldn't ignore. I removed the immobilizer to find that I had left my bracelet on underneath it and now had a permanent imprint of my bracelet. I left it off for the rest of the night (and took off my bracelet) and the imprint seems to be gone now.

I can do most things I need to do with it on and when I feel myself impaired its only to realize that those were the areas when I was over using my wrist. Typing is good but the remote control is now a two handed tool because the fingers of my left hand don't know where all the buttons are.

Twenty Five cents richer

Rita stopped over today and brought me some more Kelly green cucumbers (this is me chuckling at that pun). Kelly has planted a garden in his yard and is reaping a plethora of cucumbers. I really like them. I had forgotten how much better they taste when really fresh. She pointed out the one picked this morning and I am going to eat that one as soon as my poppin fresh rolls are finished cooling off.

She went cushion diving for me and came up with a quarter and a peanut but no nail file. I told her she could keep the quarter but she didn't. Hence the title.

I had a nice little IM conversation with Marcel last night. He reminded me that it was Bernie's birthday and we went back and forth about what we remembered about birthdays when we were kids.

Monica emailed me about a Laser Spine Institute that Kim may be using. Kim has spinal neck problems that seam to mirror my lower back spinal problems. She has cancelled a scheduled surgery to check out the laser route. I am going to ask my next doctor about it and wait to see what Kim's experience is.

Big Black Hole

I just spent the last 10 or 15 minutes searching for my nail file. My only "good" nail file. It is somewhere in the big black hole around my chair.

After "icing" my wrist for a while I decided to tackle my fingernails. They are getting very long and strong and I'm always afraid I will poke Jackson with one. I got out my manicure kit - had out my clipper, file and emery board. I clipped one nail at a time then filed it. I ended with my left thumb nail. I clipped it down, put the clipper down in my lap, picked up the emery board to get the big edges, put the emery board down in my lap and went to pick up the file for the finishing touches and the file wasn't there. I had just used it on the previous nail. I stood up (figuring it had gotten lost in the folds, lets pretend its the folds of my clothing). Nothing fell out. I looked around the floor, around in the chair, patted myself down, no nail file. Good grief. The cushion on my chair doesn't come off but I put my hand down the sides and still didn't come up with anything. Next person here with smaller and healthier hands needs to go cushion diving for me.

Oh Brother

I can't believe its been so long since I posted. On the Doctor front I have an appointment with Dr. Hall on 9/12 and I'm hoping there will be a non-surgical remedy for my back pain. I never did return to physical therepy because they never contacted me and I'll show them.

The therepy I had helped enough for me to resume my version of normal activity. I can dress myself and walk short distances etc.

In other news we had a really nice weekend with Erika and Jackson and Steph and Arn. Arn had lost both his grandmother and another close family friend last week and then he has been nursing our steph during her disability so I hope he had a good time. We played "bowling dice" (thanks Adrienne) and it was unbelievable how hard it was to keep score. Arn was the only one that could do it. I was a bookkeeper for more than 30 years and I'm sure I could have put my mind to it and conquered it but the pay wasn't good enough for all that work.

As for Brother Kayser. After my original indignation (as soon as she said I nominate Kayser, I pushed the rewind button) I decided I will probably keep watching BB but have no enthusiasm left. My least favorite line of the whole show was Ivette's (and I paraphrase) I don't care if America voted him back on, this is our game not America's.

Dr. Dawn

That's Dr. Tartaglioni, Neurosurgeon. I got there early enough to fill out the requisite paperwork. I can't believe, in this day and age, they can generate that form with my basic information (name, address) already on it.

I really like Dr. Dawn. She showed me the pictures (it turns out they are mine to keep). Showed me the several things that were wrong, told me which things could be helped and which couldn't. The only surgery she recommended was - well I would be having to refer to the pictures to explain it to you. The upshot was there was something that can be done to alleviate some nerve roots and their passageways. She showed me a couple of places that were very narrow and said "I don't know how you can stand it".

The benefit of this surgery would be that I could stand longer and walk farther. I'm thinking that I already have one arthritic knee that's giving me problems. The only reason it doesn't hurt more it that I don't stand on it or walk on it very much. It seems to me that's like fixing the axle when the transmission is ready to go. I told her I do not want surgery.

Then she referred me to another doctor (Dr. Hall) for non-surgical pain management. I will call for an appointment with her (I think she referred to Dr. Hall as her) tomorrow.

Real reality

I have started watching a couple of shows on E. One has got children of celebreties or just the very rich doing a cattle drive and the other is a group of quasi celebreties that have been on other reality shows making a movie. Gretchen, you won't believe, but Toni is back. After the Love Cruise, and Paradise Hotel, she's back on this show. Others that I recognize are Johnny "Fair Play" and Ethan from Survivor. Both shows are pretty stupid but interesting enough to fill in time while I am taping the "real" shows that I want to watch.

Neurosurgeon

I have an appointment to see a neurosurgeon on Wednesday the 10th. I just picked up a packet of "pictures" from my doctor's office to bring with me. I am tempted to open the envelope and look at the pictures but I have visions of opening the envelope and being greeted by a notice "Void if exposed to natural light."

There is a letter attached to the front that details the findings of the mri and say a lot of things about disc herniation, effacement upon thecal sac, lots of things about nerve roots and degenerative changes of the sacroiliac joints.

In other words I'm a mess.

Today is the day

I still take extra strength tylenol every six hours for my wrist. It hardly ever hurts any more, unless I try to use it. Some of the things I can't do is open pop bottles or pill bottles. To that end, I don't put the cap on the tylenol bottle all the way but just set it on top. I was fully aware that one of these days those pills were going to go flying all over the room. Today is the day. I think I got them all picked up but people with pets and small children be warned.

I was at Randazzo's yesterday and they had corn 10 for $1.00. I planned to get 10 and I could peel them if I took one layer at a time. On the 5th one, however, there was a long tail and I forgot that all my parts weren't working properly and tried to break it off. That brought an end to the corn and any other shopping.

On the pt front. I called them today and found out that Bob should be back the week of the 15th. I asked them to schedule me for that week. The reason for my call, however; remember when I noticed all the errors in their information screen? I got my first Medicare Summary Notice and they are not paying anything on my pt because the medical ID number (read social security number) is missing or wrong. Its not like I could have given it to them wrong, they have a copy of my insurance cards.

We have to get Kaysar back in the house.

Eee-Oh Eleven

Marty is probably the only one old enough to understand the title line (if he's still reading blogs). That is what Ron Simko used to say at the Dad's Club Bingo every time B-11 came out.

My reference here is that the Janet Evanovich book "Eleven on Top" was in the bag of books from Inga. Gretchen was looking for it, and I could see that the top book in the bag was Evanovich but it was a paperback and Gretch knew that the eleven wouldn't be in paperback yet. Inga (corner unit on the Suchy side) has been giving me books and I hadn't gone through the new bag yet.

In other news, I found the chair I wanted for the living room. I found it at Big Lots would you believe. I went out and bought it and Jeff is meeting me there after work today to bring it home for me (and I'm hoping perform the "some assembly required") and take my old chair to Stephanie.

I called the PT office and asked what had happened to Bob and was it just temporary and got the dreaded "I don know". I cancelled my appointments for the rest of this week. I didn't like the 3:20 time slot when everyone wanted to go home. My appointments next week are for 8:20 AM and I said I would call them Monday morning to find out if Bob is back, but I didn't want to go to the new people.

No New Machines

When I went to therapy on Friday I had a re-evaluation and my leaning numbers (front to back and side to side) had improved to almost normal. Bob (the PT guy) scheduled two more weeks of therapy and said he would start me on some machine exercises on Monday. I was very encouraged about this since I have a lifetime membership to Fitness USA and would be able to go there to continue machine use.

I figured Bob would set me up on a series of exercizes that would be more helpful than harmful since right now I don't know the difference.

I got to my appointment on Monday and felt like I had gone to the wrong place. No Bob or any of the assistants that I was used to. The main person seemed to be George who was Indian and hard to understand, his assistant was Eva who was Polish and hard to understand. They asked me what I usually had done, and of course, I didn't know the proper names for any of it.

When George got an inkling of what should be done after finally looking at my chart, he walked over to one of the high tables and said. "OK, get up on the table on your stomach." I said, "I can't breath when I lay on my stomach and I will need a chair to get up on that table.".

He gave me a lower table (they were all empty I was the only one there) and told Eva to begin my Deep Heat Stimulation (that's what Bob always called it but these people were using letters, I think it was IFC). She started to connect the ports to my back and I asked if they were going to put a heating pad on the table. After she sighed, she asked the American male gopher to get her a heating pad. As she was setting me up on the machine she talked to the kid telling him many times how this was so much easier to do if the person was on their stomach.

So, when that was done, she did my Ultrasound massage again letting me know several times that she had never done this to a sitting patient before.

After that she asked me what else I did, I showed her the exercises I did and she added 3 or 4 more to be done on the floor. I told her I could not get down on the floor. She was not happy with me. I was happy to be in the West because I'm thinking that in the Eastern Bloc they have ways to get to on the floor.

While I was doing the exercises, Eva and the kid were talking about the fact that George was leaving at 4:30 (My appointments this week are 3:20, and it took them almost a half hour to decide what to do with me.) Eva and the kid discussed how much lunch and break time each of them had had and what time they would be able to skip out after George left.

The upshot was I only did half my exercises and told them I was done and got out of there. There was no traction and no new machines.

New Machines

Kewadin was full of new machines. Its fun to try new machines except when it isn't. It isn't when you put your $5.00 in and hit the button and get nothing. Then you hit the button 9 more times and get 9 more nothings. Those new machines are sucky and you haven't learned anything about them.

Angels and Devils is one of the new penny machines. I put my $5.00 in and hit the button. (For some reason, most of the new penny machines have 21 lines instead of 20). My first spin brought up a bonus. I got to take my choice of the number of free spins. 20 free spins with prizes multiplied by 1, 10 free spins with a multiple of 2, 7 spins with m/3 or 5 spins with m/4. I chose the 7 spins. The second free spin brought up the same bonus so it added 7 more spins. Each win was multiplied by 3. Within the free spins I hit a different type of bonus with the angel on reel 1 and the devil on reel 5 and I chose the angel and she shot an arrow into 996 points. Anyways I made like 2,500 points (read pennies) on that bonus. I cashed out a ticket for $25.00 and put in another $5.00 to keep playing. I continued to get wins and bonuses until I cashed out another $15.00 ticket and put in another $5.00. Each time I got the free spin bonus I chose the 7 spins with m/3 option. During one of these I hit 5 of the biggest prize that paid 2,000 points and it was multiplied by 3. Read 6,000 pennies. I ended up with a ticket for $66.00 and change. That was $106.00 from that penny machine.

King of the Grill was also very good to me this trip and I ended up with $48.00 from the little piggy. I didn't see any of the Milk Money gendre but then, I don't walk the whole casino any more.

Those wins were enough to keep me in the black for this trip and maybe a couple more.

Whaaat

I went to bed at 9 last night because I knew I had to get up early today. I didn't sleep well but I was up at 4 and drove to Windsor to take Jeannette to the train station. I had to pass right by the casino and wasn't even tempted to stop. (I'm going to Kewadin on Monday so I didn't need a fix or anything). I got back home about 6:30 and tried to watch tv for a while. I finally felt so exhausted that I went back to bed. I just got up and I have a sneaking feeling that I'm supposed to know what day it is. Boy, I hope its not Monday, or I will have missed my trip to Kewadin.

Dr. Cathy

I finally got to the doctor for my wrist and her name was Dr. Cathy Beitman. I liked her very much. They x-rayed the wrist and it showed arthritis, of course, complicated with tendonitis. She will add it to my pt workup and told me to take Tylenol Arthritis every 6 to 8 hours for 2 weeks.

The MRI results were in and it turns out that it showed arthritis, of course, along with herniated discs. She mentioned the numbers of the affected discs but I forget. 4 and 5 sounds familiar. She explained why I can't stand for more than a few minutes and why sitting down seems to take the pain away. After I finish with the pt, it the pain persists she will send me to an orthopedist.

I have a one pound bottle of planters peanuts that I put on the top of my refrigerator next to the stove. It must have been too close to the edge because after I had opened and closed the freezer and refrigerator doors a couple of times the jar fell down on the stove. I saw it falling and visions of broken glass and peanuts all over the floor danced through my head. However, the bottle didn't break and all I got is a chip on my stove about the size of a dime. At the time that seemed like the lesser of the possible evils, but now that doggone chip is starting to look ugly.

A Bullet Dodged

My heavy weekend schedule brought back all the pain in my wrist and hand and I was looking to make a doctor's appointment for today or tomorrow. Of course nothing was open when I was ready to call so I was just filling time. I have a Stress Test scheduled in my calendar for 7/28 and they had sent me some preliminary papers to fill out and bring with me. They were sitting here on my computer desk so I decided to fill them out while waiting for the doctor's office to open.

When I got to the last page of the papers it said "Date of test 7/18/05". I checked the calendar and that is today. As soon as the clock hit 8:00 I called to verify. Yes they said, I was scheduled for 9:00 am. There were lots of conditions about eating and drinking before the test and luckily I hadn't violated any of them yet so I said I would be there, except that the papers said the test was 4 or 5 hours and I had a physical therapy scheduled for this afternoon. They re-scheduled the pt for tomorrow and I went for my tests today.

The first one started at 9 with an injection into my veins (like the bone scan did) and instructions to drink a full (10 oz) glass of water. After the stuff had gotten through my veins there would be an x-ray type of picture taking. Actually is was like a cross between an x-ray and an MRI. I had to lay flat on a table and the picture taking device, a disk about 3 feet across, started on the far left side of my chest and took about 20 minutes to move over to the far right side. But it wasn't in an enclosure or anything.

While waiting for the vein flow, I was taken in for an echo cardiogram. This was an ultra-sound picture thing that looked on the screen just like the baby picture ultra sounds. I was poked and prodded all over getting pictures from different angles. First from under my left breast, then under my left arm, then in the center of the bottom of my ribs, (she really had to push hard there) then from the throat area.

I dodged another bullet there. She was entering my information of her computer and I could see the screen and she had my first name as Patricia. I called that to her attention and while she was changing it I looked over the rest. They had my date of birth as 2/12/32. When I told her that was wrong, she left to go to the desk and make sure they changed it there. It never did change on her screen though.

I can just see my insurance company getting billed for a 73 year old Patricia Van Houten. How many years would that have floated around before it got straightened out.

I was sent home and told I could have juice until 11:30 and then just water after that. I go back there at 1:30 for the last set, a new injection and more pictures. It is a stress test that does not require me to walk the treadmill. They do it chemically somehow.

Now I have pt scheduled for tomorrow morning. I am too busy medically to go to the doctor.

A matter of time

The pain in my hand has subsided enough to give me a wide range of motion but I still have almost zero strength in it. Taking the cap off a pop or pill bottle is a major undertaking.

I always eat my meals in the living room in front of the TV. So I was having soup this afternoon. I tucked a tea towel into the collar of my T-shirt because I know I usually have a few drips even tho I hold the soup up close to my face while I eat.

I don't know what happened this time, but the whole pot sort if tipped over but only half of it spilled out before I could right it again. The tea towel had protected my shirt and the throw rug in front of my chair took most of what fell on the floor. I rolled up the towel, rolled up the rug, rubbed out the few drops that had hit the carpeting with a swiffer-wet. Those things work pretty good on a lot of spills. I used one to get some blood out of the carpet last week when I had a toe bleed.

Well, it wasn't until I walked back into the living room after dispatching all the soup soaked things that I noticed the big blob of soup on my chair. A wet towel and another swiffer-wet took care of that the best I could and I can hardly notice it any more, and I can hardly feel the burn on my inner thigh any more either.

I guess it was just a matter of time till I had that kind of disaster but I hope I have a lot of good years till the next one.

more bugs

I was talking with my friend Pat Specht (Jake Johnson's mother). We don't talk often but when we do its a talkathon. Anyways the lightening bug incident came up and she said that when she was a kid (in Pittsburgh) they used to catch fireflys and draw rings on their fingers with the phosphorencence and they glowed in the dark.

I didn't even think to ask if they killed the bugs first or just went around drawing on themselves with live bug butts.

Doctor, doctor

Bob, the pt guy, after determining that the pain in my wrist had not deminished, suggested that I see the doctor and get it x-rayed. I brought the doctor's phone number upstairs to bed with me so that I could call for an appointment first thing in the morning and not wait until I came downstairs.

However, when I woke up this morning, the wrist pain had moved into the middle of my hand and to the top set of knuckles. I thinking that pain from something broken wouldn't move around. So now I am just going to wait for it to keep moving till it reaches my fingertips and moves off the planet.

Lightening Bugs

Are lightening bugs lucky? I want to believe they are, even when the phosphorescense is sticking to your fingers after you have crushed him to death. Not my fingers, Gretchen's.

What made him come into my bedroom in the first place. I don't even want to think about how he got in. Didn't he know I had an Amazon Daughter ready to come to my rescue? I have always depended on the kindness of daughters.

Movin Right Along

had an MRI this morning. The test itself is painless. They had to make sure I had no metal on or in me. People my age tend to have implants of one sort or another. They asked about permanent eyeliner which reminded me of Steph's tattoos. She is supposed to have an MRI near the end of the month and they will have to find a way to cover her tattoos. I didn't think that a decision about surgery on her knee had been made yet. As for the MRI itself, I remembered that chamber as being a little bigger. It is embarrassing to scrape the sides as they slide you in and out.

The MRI place was very easy to find. I had good directions and they led me right there. Twelve mile across to Northwestern and right on Northwestern and the clinic was on the right. There were no directions to get out. Northwestern is the highway from hell. The clinic was like the last building accessible before the road turns into the Lodge Freeway. The freeway, Northwestern, Franklin, 12 mile and God knows what-all else, all seem to merge right at that corner. It took me a little longer to get home.

My latest ailment is my right wrist. I can hardly move it. I have trouble with the mouse and with the remote control so you know this needs to be fixed. Its been since about Saturday so at Monday's pt session I asked Bob, the pt guy if he could wrap it for me. He said that Ace bandages were considered a "durable medical apparatus" and they didn't have them there. He did suggest a cold pack and did that for me and suggested that frozen vegetables work best at home. After the long drive this morning, using both hands to work the gear shift, I stopped at Farmer Jacks and bought a bag of frozen corn. I put it around my wrist and it felt pretty good. I stopped at the drive in at Burger King and had the corn over my arm while I clumsily used just my left hand to hand over payment and receive change and take in the food and it occurred to me that you probably don't get as much general sympathy with a bag of corn on your wrist as you do with a cast or something.

Sorry to hear that Mary is in the hospital but glad to know she is getting good care.

Happy Birthday America

I spent America's birthday in Canada. Me and Rita and Jeannette went to Windsor Casino on the bus trip. Because of the carnival and Westland Festivities we couldn't park by the city hall as usual and had to park across Ford Road behind the Blockbuster Video (in the Kroger parking lot). I got there kind of early and was like the 2nd car from the back of the store. I spent my allotted amount of money in Windsor and them had the horrendous ride home.

First of all the bus driver didn't even try to get into the tunnel and took the bridge home. We were 1/2 hour in line to get through customs at the bridge. Then he dropped off the Dearborn people and proceeded to Westland. Ford Road was closed off so he went past Ford Road on Wayne to Hunter and across to Civic Center, making a very iffy U-Turn to head sough on civic Center, past the library and into the Kroger parking lot. The trouble was that the parking lot and all of its entrances and exits were packed with people trying to jockey for position for the fireworks tonight.

And besides, by this time it was raining very very hard. The driver finally gave up on the parking lot, went up to Ford Rd. around the barricades, made a left turn around the police cars that were blocking the road and pulled up in front of the blockbuster store to let us out there. That left quite a little walk to our cars. We all got soaked. If you ever wanted to see a senior citizen wet T-shirt contest-- Good thing I was smart enough to give Jeannette my keys and say "you will get to the car way before I will". and Good thing she was smart enough to get to the car and drive it in my direction so I didn't have to walk that far.

It is sooo nice to be home and in my nice warm dry jammies.

Bob, the PT guy

My physical therapist is Bob. He is very nice and inspires confidence. He did a pain free evaluation of my condition. He thinks my scoliosis is just above the waist and not a factor in this current situation. I got the heat, electro thing and deep heat ultrasound massage and he gave me a set of 4 exercises to do 3 times a day. They are all things to be done sitting down and I found that I can do a set at the computer wairing for a download.

I feel good and encouraged. I have pt scheduled every mon. wed. and fri. at 2:20 pm for the rest of the month.

How do you spell relief

V I C O D I N

Extra strenth vicodin and something called Neurontin. I took one of each as soon as I got home from Meijers and within a couple of minutes I took off my shoes with hardly any groaning.

I went to the real doctor. His is the name that was on the clinic when I first started going there and the name they have to use when billing my insurance. But he is hard to see since he is trying to retire. I had to wait a week for an appointment with him but he's the only one there that can prescribe narcotic drugs and I was afraid of running out.

When I told him how many Tylenol4s I was taking each day he said "Those are clearly not working." Duh. How come the other doctors (2) I went to didn't know that. He changed the prescriptions and added the Neurontin. I told him I will start the physical therepy on Thursday and he said after we see how much that helps he wants to refer me to a (kind of doctor I forget the name, but it made me think of sports medecine). So I have a little more ease of mind that releif could be on the way.

While I was at Meijers I picked up some light staples like chips and crackers. They are having a fantastic sale on pap. 3 24 packs of 12 oz cans for $4.00 after rebate but I couldn't even think of picking one up. All the stores around here are having really good pop sales. Maybe Gretchen will pick me some up later this week.
I will put that on the running "wish list" I started keeping on the kitchen table.

Little River

I did really well on my gambling trip. No I don't mean the gambling part although I am $6.00 ahead. No I did well physically if you don't count the part about being in pain and I hardly ever count that part any more. It is a given. Actually, either my pain threshhold has gone up a notch or I am getting a little better because I don't need the pain pills as often as I did.I can go 6 hours or more sometimes in a sedentary position.

I dressed myself this morning, even shoes and socks. I took my car in for a recall and I have to get dressed again tomorrow for a doctor's appointment. The I finally have my first physical therepy on Thursday and have to get dressed for that. I don't know how you young people do it, getting dressed every single day.

My aching back

The physical therepy prescribed by my doctor has yet to materialize. I have to wait till they have an opening and be evaluated etc. I'm still waiting for a call from them. I tried calling them and crying a lot but they have no sympathy.

I am living on pain pills and inactivity. Lucky for me that fits my lifestyle.The worst part is getting out of bed in the mornings. It is a long drawn out process of inching to a sitting position and letting everything settle and then inching to a standing position (trying not to fall backwards in to the above mentioned sitting position) [Not always succeeding]. However, when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom I don't usually have time for this ritual and I end up moaning and groaning a lot.

Showering is an adventure. Once I get it and let the hot water stream over my back, that parts pretty good. I can manage to wash up but you would be surprised how many back muscles it takes to lift your arms. I haven't washed my hair since I left Florida.

Another bad part is getting dressed. It is very frustrating to dangle step in clothing only to get your toes caught up in the elastic parts. I did manage to wiggle into my shoes to go to the doctor's but I used a ruler to close the velcro. Socks, of course, are out of the question.

I don't expect this disability to curtail my gambling trip this weekend.

Another Post

Oh, my aching back. The bad back was a big fat drain on the enjoyment of the last few days in Florida.

When I got home is was hot in my house. About 87. Kelly had told us a story on the way home from the airport about how it was hot in Rita's house when he went there to paint. He went out in back and found a utility box that was open and a large plug-type contraption was laying on top of her a/c unit. After trying to notify maintenance and deciding that after hours they really didn't care; he put the pluggy thing into the box thing and the a/c started right up.

So, when it was hot in my house I called Rita and asked her to ask Kelly if he would come to my house and check for a pluggy thing. I saw that there are several utility type boxes behind my house but I didn't know which one it would be. Kelly came by and identified the box, managed to get it open and pulled out the plug. He didn't find anything wrong with the plug so he put it back in.

I opened my front and back doors and the weather had cooled down enough that I couldn't tell if the air was working or not. One big sign was that the unit behind my house was not cycling.

Then I opened my mail and found my Visa bill. My billing cycle ends on the 23rd and I usually have the bill before the end of the month, but holiday and all, it wasn't here before I left for Florida. After checking the bill I noticed that the due date was 6/14. It was by then 11:30 PM of 6/14. I went on line immediately to pay the bill. When I got to the confirmation part they said my payment would be posted on the 16th.

All of this was fixed today. I went to the doctor and after pushing and prodding and xrays that made me lay flat and roll over. All things that I could not do easily because my back hurt. Duh. He determined that I was not experiencing a muscle spasm at all (thus, why the muscle relaxers were not working) What is going on is that my spine is moving. My scoliosis is getting worse. He is setting me up for a couple weeks of physical therapy. Also for bone density and stress tests. I am waiting for his "girl" to call me and let me know when the appointments are.

I called the Visa people and asked them why my due date was so early this month. I told him this is one of the bills I usually pay out of my social security check and that doesn't even come until the 3rd wednesday. He changed by billing cycle to end on the 28th and my due date to be the 23rd of the following month. He confirmed that I had made my payment on line last night and said that when the late charge went on, he would remove it.

I called Family Heating and Cooling. They came out and found that my problem was a bad fuse. A part that cost $4.50. The service call, however was $80.00.

But, I'm all fixed and all is right with the world

Where to finish

A little ways down the beach (to our right, looking at the ocean) they were building on to the beach. We could watch the sand being blown onto the shore and then spread around by bulldozers. My dad would have loved watching all that. After a couple of days the yellow taped area moved closer to our strip of beach. The day before we left the yellow tape was right in front of our building, but the weather was bad that day and the day we left so they weren't working on it. I'm thinking the people who rented the week after us were in for a disappointment. The beach building was to make repairs for the damage caused by last year's hurricanes. And in the middle of it, here comes Arlene.

I didn't get down to the pool every day. One of the days I didn't go down, I was re-heating our Sunday roast for dinner. about 4:00 Monica came up and got our blender because Mitch was making Frozen drinks out by the pool. I put the roast on to heat at about 6:30. Every time I thought of joining them down at the pool, I figured that by the time I put shoes on and got down there they would be ready to come up. So I didn't. I ate my dinner at about 7:30. My two drunken sisters wandered in after 9:00.

One of the days I did go down was Wednesday. Hot Dog day. They don't cook the hot dogs out by the back of the pool (where the drinking party was) any more. They cook them up by the clubhouse. I had my hot dogs and stayed down the rest of the day. We had a family dinner in the club house at about 6:30. Everyone brought stuff and Monica made a barbequed briskit. Afterward, we played nickle dice.

Thursday night all the women (11, count them 11 - including Monica's friend Ginny) went to see the play Menapause, the Musical that was playing in Sarasota. We decided to go out to dinner first and they picked a restaurant that served drinks. As part of Kim's birthday present (her birthday is 6/8) John (her husband) rented a limo for us. It picked us up at Four Winds. We had a couple of drinks in the limo (I'm not sure who supplied the rum and coke but it was delicious). The driver dropped us at the Chart House where it was Happy Hour and early bird dinner prices. He gave Kim his number and she called him when we were ready to go and he took us to the theatre. The play was very funny and the limo was waiting for us when it was over. Angie (Mitch's wife) kept us all in the party mood right up to the time we were dropped off. I heard later that although some of us went to bed, others continued to party.

Saturday we went back to Monica's and the weather was cloudy and not so nice for the first couple of days. Monday me and Rita did get down to the pool for a while. Starting from Sunday I was suffering from what I thought was a muscle spasm in my back and it hasn't gone away yet.

But that's another post.

Where to start

Where to start? Where to finish?

First of all we arrived at Monica's condo on Tuesday the 30th. It rained every day we were there (not the whole day) and we never used her pool that whole week. We proceeded to Long Boat on Saturday (a mere 1 hour and 15 minute drive)

Some of you may be aware that there was a shortage of rooms there this year. Kim really wanted to rent an extra unit but there didn't seem to be one available. Alternate plans were made and it ended up that Danny and Janna were going to use the unit that Debbie usually uses and Debbie and her kids were going to spend the week at Monica's condo. Debbie invited her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to spend a long weekend there with them.

Now comes, one or two days before our week starts and Kim gets a call that a unit has opened up. She took it. Now Kim's family have three total units which gave Lauri and Austin one to themselvs. And thus, we enjoy the weekend.

Then comes Krista in the pool on Monday talking to a woman that says her group has to leave that day and would Krista like to use her room for the rest of the week. There are some huge teenagers in the Krista/Mitch unit. So Krista got the keys etc. from her and wanted to give Debbie first shot at it. So Monica called Debbie and since her company had left that day, she decided to pack up the kids and come on down.

It turned out that the free unit was a large studio (all in one room with a murphy bed and sofabed) Debbie has a couple of good sized teenagers also. Anyways, Brittany moved in with Laurie and Austin and Debbie and Ryan did fine it the studio and we all had a wonderful week.

to be continued

Gotta Love Her

Steph came over to swim today. She was feeling better than she had yesterday and we actually had a nicer sunnier day. She came with her friend Jen. Arn is working a lot.

I actually got a glimpse of the hidden benefits of a small piece of consistant upbringing. After she and Jen had been out of the pool for a while and were going back in, Steph took her towel and laid it out carefully on a lawn chair in the sun and asked her friend Jen "Don't you want to lay out your towel so it will dry?" My little heart went pitter-pat with pride. Her friend, of course, was having none of it and threw her towel on the nearest chair.

It really takes very little to make me happy.

finally spring

Well, its almost like spring here. We have had a couple of really nice days in a row. Maybe there is hope for swimming on Sunday.

I had a good weekend at Kewadin. I was ahead in single digit dollars. Tuesday Rita and I leave for Florida for a couple of weeks. Then we were supposed to go to a wedding on the 18th but we have cancelled that plan because Jeannette is going to be in Canada and Rita and I are both too wimpy to drive out to Howell by ourselves. But the weekend of the 25th I am going on an overnight to Little River (Manistee).

Rita got a new car yesterday. She got a red Focus. I just dropped her at the dealer so I haven't actually seen the car yet.

After Monday I probably wont be able to check the blogs so don't be posting any cute pictures or saying anything clever till I get back. OK?

Wipe Out

I got delusions of youth this weekend. Not young youth, just my early 60s youth. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I could do a 48 hour casino stint with hardly any sleep and still carry on with my life. Keeping in mind that my life is pretty sedentary. But Saturday night, after two casino's and after walking out on a terrible movie (Monster-in-Law) I was wiped out. About 9 PM I couldn't even sit up in my chair. My body was screaming "Are you trying to kill us? Go lay down old lady." So I did.

So next time you youngsters decide to pull an all-nighter don't even tell me about it because I will have forgotten how old I am and want to go with.

a very good weekend

In case y'all hadn't noticed from Erika's blogs, we had a very good weekend in Michigan. Mike and Mel arrived about 7:30 and after a brief stop at my house to pick up stuff, we headed up north. Gretchen did a good job of acting surprised. I got to see all of the room makeovers. Who would have guessed Gretchen could be a Suzie Homemaker.

It turned out someone was throwing Heather a surprise Baby Shower on Sunday and Erika and I crashed the party. It was a little embarrassing to come as an uninvited guest and walk away with a lot of their prizes. They had it at the local park. If any of you are familiar with that park, they have nice green hills. We should have a video of Mel rolling down the hill with Seanie (how is his name spelled anyways?)

I knew I wanted to take my family to Ponderosa for dinner but some of the food at the shower smelled so good, I had to try it. Then there were two kinds of cake so I had a small piece of each. Megan had nibbled and had some cake at the shower too. I didn't do justice to the buffet part of Ponderosa and Megan's comment was "I can't believe I was too full to get any desert." Gordon, however was in good form and did us proud. Even Jackson found a few things he would eat. Many of them tasted better after dipping them into Erika's chocolate ice cream. He seriously took pieces of bread and dipped into her ice cream. Then he moved on to other pieces of food he had laying around, some croutons, pieces of chicken and hamburger. We all thought it was way funnier than Erika did, it was after all, her ice cream.

Megan got to spend many many hours in the pool and practiced her mermaid skills. Jackson was fascinated to see her legs in the air. All the kids had a good time in the pool. It was nice to have that extra day on Sunday when the hotel was almost empty and our group were the only ones in the pool area.

Mike has been pretty quiet, but loosened up some playing with the kids in the park and in the pool.

Like I said, a very good weekend.

I hate when that happens

You know, when you go to bed, set the sleep timer on your TV and snuggle down. Then you toss and turn and can't sleep so you decide to go ahead and watch the shows you taped upstairs. Jeopardy, Survivor, Without a Trace. Then you get completely engrossed in a show and all of a sudden your TV shuts off. Well the first thing you think is "power failure". And all the time it takes you to figure out what happened, your tape is still rolling. I hate when that happens.

barbeque

What a great party Stephi threw. After a little mix up with the directions (my fault) we found the park and although it was cold it was not wet. The forecasters were wrong about the all-day rain. I have been to the West Branch 4th of July fireworks so I knew enough to bring my winter coat. There was a slew of Michigan sweatshirts (except mine was covered by my coat) so I was able to check on my family members from afar. Me and Rita stayed in our lawn chairs and ate and observed.

Gretchen brought Brian and Shawn and they seemed to have a great time. Jackson couldn't decide which direction to run first. There were so many kids to watch and try to follow. All the Nelsons were there. When I saw Lawson I asked "Which wife are you with today?" and he said "Let's see, who am I married to this week?" It was Janice. Mark and his wife of 12 years and their 3 kids were there. Brian (divorced from Margaret), and his 3 kids were there with his new girlfriend. Are you all sitting down? New girlfriend (of Brian, Dana's baby brother) had a grandchild with her.

There were various and sundry Winters relatives and it turned out we were celebrating Arn's birthday but Steph didn't tell us about that part. His relatives already knew tho. There were tons of food and it was a really terrific party.

What Would I Do

I like the idea of having a group of mentors in your own personal What Would _____ Do group. Kind of like phone-a-friends. Now, next time I find myself in the potato chip aisle, I will try to ask myself, What Would Kathy Do?

My trip to Niagara Falls was wonderful. This group I travel with are all a little older and slower (I might still be the slowest one getting off the bus though), but we do know how to have fun.

Jan shared Gene's grade-school knickname with us and that preoccupied the whole ride back. His knickname in grade school (because he was always so helpful to the nuns) was Suchy Sister Super Suck. Well the fact that Jan was an x nun got that twisted every way but loose.

The gambling was fun and my losses didn't exceed the Van Houten Recommended Daily Allowance. Lots of new kinds of machines (I can't think of any now except the Garfield ones) at the Seneca casino. It also turned out that the Seneca one was on the New York side of the Falls. I think that was my first time over the Rainbow Bridge. My first two times actually.

After stopping at the duty free Monday morning and loading up the overheads with bottles of liquor (that rolled around a lot by the way), when we returned to the hotel Monday night the hostess said "Oh, yeah - you will have to put your liquor in your suitcases because we have to go through customs a couple more times today. I guess it was ok to bring it back into the states but then we were coming back through Canada to drive home and we weren't supposed to bring it back into Canada again.

The Fallsview Casino in Niagara (Canada) was also the new one. I don't know why people always think bigger is better. Both casinos were huge, with hallways full of shopping and restaurants to walk through before you get to the gaming area.On Monday I ran out of energy before I reached my RDA and found a nice comfy seat in the food court and before long half of our group was congregated there to wait for the bus.

On Tuesday I reached my RDA by noon and the bus didn't leave till 2:30, but they had some very comfy wooden benches along the shopping corridor and I had a great people watching seat.I think Jeannette came out ahead and Jan and Gene hit $150.00 on the Texas Tea machine and he quit while he was ahead.Now, I'm looking forward to Kewadin on the 23rd.

California Visit

From Adrienne's and Marisa's comments on my last post it looks like they would like me to come out to visit during the time that Ris' baby is due. Don't you people understand that I am not a person that can come out to help? I am another person that gets in the way and needs to be taken care of. I was laughing about it with some friends at dominos today and one of them said "Tell them to call you when he's big enough to push your wheelchair."

I won't wait that long, but I don't want to be underfoot when all the excitement is happening either.

I just saw a cool Judge Mathis. I guy was suing for his engagement ring back because his fiance had a baby by somebody else. Judge said "Was your engagement already off when she got pregnant?" and he said "No, I never called the engagement off, I just wanted a break, but I never called it off." Judge said, you never called it off, and he said no. Good, says Judge, so you're still engaged and don't need the ring back. Case dismissed.

Longboat

Its official. Rita and I are flying to Tampa on Tuesday May 31st. We will be staying at Monica's at both ends of our week at Longboat Key which is June 4 thru 11 this year. We return to Detroit on Tuesday June 14th. Other planned trips are April 25th, an overnight to Niagara Falls and May 23rd, an overnight to Kewadin. So don't say you never know where I am.

The baby finger of my left hand is swollen like a sausage with what I suppose in arthritis. Its been about 4 days now tho and if it doesn't go away soon I may see a doctor. I went to Windsor yesterday and (apart from the pain which won't be mentioned here) the doggone finger made it very difficult to collect the coins when cashing out a slot machine. Aarrgh It never ends with old people.

Baptism

I know there are way more important things going on right now, but I think its interesting to note that while he was here last weekend, Jackson baptised my living room carpet. He is very fond of naked-baby play time and although Sandra kept thinking of more and more clever games to get him to come to her for diapering, he kept thinking of more and more clever ways to get away.

Full Mouth

I just picked up my new store-bought tooth. They connected it to all my other store-bought teeth. I still have some pain from the extraction that has settled into a quasi sinus headache behind my right eye and since my gums were still a bit swollen from the extraction I'm not sure if the pretend teeth are adjusted properly and may have to go back next week. Aarrgh

Congratulations to you Marisa as you enter this new and exciting chapter of your life.

And to end with a prayer May God grant the citizens of Glendale the wisdom to vote for Kathy.

The sound of frustration

It sounds like Aarrgh.

I saw my doctor yesterday and he wrote on his pad that the problem "has resolved, recurrance will require excision." Only he didn't say "the problem". He named the problem and he called in "cellulitis". That's a scarry word cause I have that stuff all over my body. aarrgh

Last October I had a root canal on my upper front tooth. Sunday it started to hurt. Monday I noticed that it was loose. So yesterday (it was Tuesday, right) I called the dentist to have it checked out. She said, "Can you come tomorrow at 3 pm?" I said I could and have been living my morning with that feeling of quivering anxiety that I was going to the dentist this afternoon. At about 11 am I got a call from the dentist's office confirming my appointment for tomorrow at 3. "No," I said, "its today at 3." "Oh no," says the girl, "doctor is not even in today, we have you down for tomorrow at 3". Aarrgh.

When I left the doctor yesterday, there was a light on my dashboard that didn't go out. I had no idea what the little symbol on the light meant so when I got home I dug out my owner's manual and found out that the symbol stands for emmision system. I planned to call the dealer tomorrow and get that checked out but now I have the dentist tomorrow. Aarrgh.

No News

I was reminded this morning why I hate to watch the news. I left the TV on all night and woke up to the news this morning and they were discussing the Michael Jackson case. Evidently the Judge is going to make a ruling soon about whether or not the "prior bad acts" can be introduced as evidence to this jury. One of the bases for the decision is whether or not the facts of the prior acts are more compelling than the facts from this act. My interpretation of this is that the more likely it is that he did the prior acts, the less likely it is that this jury will be able to hear about them. How does that make sense.

Adding insult

Lately my knees and ankles have been competing for my attention pain-wise. Not in pairs mind you but individually. Now my left elbow has added itself to the mix. As if all these aches and pains were not enough to remind me of my age, I suffered the following insult.

You know how when you have something in your eye, like an eyelash etc. One of the defense mechanisms is to hold your upper eyelashes and pull the upper eyelid over the lower eyelid and the invading particle is removed. Last night I felt something in my left eye. Nothing dangerous, just irritable. So I tried the above maneuver and found out I can no longer do that. I have so much loose skin on my eyelid; I can’t get hold of my upper eyelash without a mirror. Aarrgh

two more days

Only two more days of winter and it looks like we are going to get snow for both of them. We got snow last night but only on the grassy parts. Our sidewalks and pavement have declared themselves a no snow zone from now on (I hope). Gretchen's temp job ends today and I miss her already.

The hole in my belly has dried up and scabbed over and I have stopped covering it with a band aid. But I haven't started wearing clothes all day yet. I haven't worn anything but a nightgown since last Sunday when we had our Show-and-Tell party up at the clubhouse. La Dolce Vita.

I have been checking airfares for my upcoming trips but I'm not ready to purchase yet. I hate the thought of going to Florida this year with only Monica and Rita. I keep hoping that by some miracle, after Kathy wins her election, her first order of business can be to take a vacation and come to Florida with me.

When I am watching a sporting event and the action gets very frantic, I sometimes have to change the channel for a few seconds and then come back to see how it played out. That's how I feel about Kathy's election. As soon as I think about it I try to put it out of my mind because I want it so badly for her that I can't stand to think of it going any other way.

Medical update

Erika was a year old when my Gall Bladder was removed. That was way before they could do that with a couple of pinpricks. So I have had this six inch long raised scar on my stomach for 40 odd years. I started to get sharp "surface" pains when I was pregnant with Adrienne and have been getting them on and off ever since. Mostly off.

The difference this time is that the scar tissue started to rupture and I went to the doctor about it. I went to Dr. Rosario who did my surgery two years ago. The first thing he did was probe the opening with a Q-tip (ouch) and determine that the fissure did not go all the way through. That was a good thing.

He predicted a couple of outcomes. A) It would heal by itself or B) the area would have to be excised. Since A was my personal preference, I did not delve further into B. I have filled a couple of prescriptions for anti-biotics (pills and cream) and Dr. Rosario will determine on 3/29 whether we have achieved A or should proceed to B.

More

When the ship docked in Valpariaso they put our luggage on a truck and delivered it to the airport. They put our bodies on tour busses for a city tour of Valpariaso and Santiago. The tour started at about 8:30 AM on Sunday morning. We drove up and down the downtown streets of Valpariaso and saw all the official and important buildings including the Parliament building. Valpariaso is not the capitol of the country but that's where they hold Parliament. Our guide said its because it works better that way. The president and upper house members live in Santiago.

We followed the road to Santiago passing through a very nice resort town which has new high-rise condominiums that sell for between 20,000 and 40,000 US dollars. I learned on this tour why Chili is such a long skinny country. The guide described Chili as an island with water on one side and the Andes Mountain range on the other. He said they have closer ties to the far east than they do with Argentina. He said Argentinians are snooty because their economy is very good right now. Every time Chili's economy starts going OK, they have a flood, fire or earthquake or military coup.

The tour included a ride up San Cristobal Hill. (Looked like a mountain to me.) The guide said, "The Hill has something for everyone. When you are a child you come with your grandparents. Its a place for family picnics and having fun. When you are a little older and you don't want to go to school, you come to the hill and try to hide so the police won't take you back home. And you have some fun. Then when you are a little older, you come with your sweetheart and you have some fun. When you get older yet, you come with your secretary and you have some fun. Then when you get older, you bring your grandchildren and the whole family can have some fun."

The tour ended about 5:00 PM at the airport where we claimed our luggage and got in line at the Delta check in counter. Unfortunately there was a sign on the counter that they would open at 7:30 PM (Our flight didn't leave until 10:40 PM) The Delta counter did open at about 7 and took care of a lot of disgruntled passengers.

My suitcase is open and I have put away about 6 things. Maybe not so much put away and brought to the rooms in which they live (or on the stairway up which they will go) I have unpacked the house and bell I bought in Argentina. The house is on the kitchen table until it decided to jump onto the wall. The suitcase is still pretty full. I intent to take out any dirty clothes and throw them downstairs today, that should make a dent.

I don't want to overextend myself. I have tapes to watch.

Campaign upside

I wore my campaign button the whole cruise. Anytime anybody asked me about it I said if you know anybody in Glendale California, call them up and tell them to vote for Kathy. One person actually had parents that lived in Pasadena and promised to tell them to call their friends. Another on the last airplane said her cousin lived in Glendale. Then later when I saw her at the baggage pickup she said "There's the lady I have to call Ruth for and tell her to vote for Kathy."

Gene Suchy is excited that Kathy is running for office. He dropped a hint while we were with Monica and Rita about her aunts contributing to her campaign but they didn't bite.

Home really is Sweet

Now that everyone has seen my butt....

You probably noticed that I didn't get around to using my sisters' free minutes. There is so much that I saw and did. I did take notes, but my suitcase is still standing my the door and I can't refer to them right now.

After Puerto Madryn, we rounded Cape Horn and it was very exciting. I mean it just looked like mountains and landscape but it was exciting all the same. We saw beautiful glaciers. There were five major ones all named after the countries of the five men that explored them. The first one, Italia, was the most beautiful and went from way up, all the way down to the waters edge. What I didn't know previously is that a glacier is not an iceberg. Glaciers form between mountains, in the cleft sort of and down the sides. So that's the icy part. The rest of it just looks like a mountain with snow (ice) on top.

At our Ushuaia stop, we (Les MaTantes) took a cab to the Marshall Glacier and took a ride up the glacier on a ski lift. For your chuckle of the day, picture me and Rita trying to jump onto a ski lift that doesn't stop. Many people on the ship paid big bucks for excursions. Our cost was $10.00, US for the cab and $11.00 US for three lift tickets. About $7.00 per person. Everyone was so jealous.

The next day, we took a cab ride for $20.00 US per person to the penguinarium. After a 1 1/2 hour ride (one way) we found out that we still had to walk over a mile on a gravel path in order to actually see the penguins. I asked someone on his way back if it was worth the walk and he said it was a long way to go to see 4 penguins. So we didn't walk the extra mile. The poor cab driver tried to get us to go see the museum and/or the palace or cemetery (highlights of the city) but we declined. We did manage to see the whole city and lots of pretty countryside with ocean views on the long ride.

Two days were spent at sea going through the Straights of Magellan. Many people spent much of the day sitting on the decks outside but it was really cold and I spent more time in the Constellation Room which was right in the front of the ship on deck 11 and had floor to ceiling windows on three sides. There was a guide-type person who gave lectures (which I did not attend) and gave a running commentary over the PA when we passed anything pertinent.

One of the main speakers and personages on the ship was Patch Adams. If any of you saw the movie, I understand that he comes off as some kind of magnificent healer when played by Robin Williams. Well, in real life, he is a major jerk. I believe that he has done good deeds, and believes in healing through laughter or something, by being a clown. But it seems that he has accomplished nothing. He lost me when he told about the making of the movie. He said that he agreed to let them make the movie and they agreed in turn to build his "Hospital," where he would promote his healing ideas. He is something of a flower child (in his 60s at least) and doesn't believe in lawyers. Well, guess what. Not only did the hospital not get built but he said he never got $10.00 from anyone involved with that movie. I was not one of the people standing in line to buy his book to help contribute to the building of his hospital. If he couldn't be bothered to get a decent written contract regarding building the hospital in return for making the movie, he doesn't strike me as a good risk.

After I open my suitcase, if I think of more stuff I will blog again.

Butt Shot

Lyle doesn't like it when I take naked pictures of Jackson, but goddamn he is the cutest little naked thing in the whole world and I can't help myself. I decided I could post it over here since no one could track this by searching for his name or anything. If they think they are getting a butt shot of mom, well their loss. You have to admit, of all the butts in all the world...

Purety Madryna

I am in Purety Madryna or something like that [ez note: I looked it up, it is Puerto Madryn, Argentina--the title of the post is linked to an itenerary of her cruise]. We went into town this morning and it was very fun.

When I left home, my back was in spasm. I could not move side to side or forward and back in any direction from the waist. I had wheenchairs at every airport. Once I was seated on the plane (I had window seats for both legs) I didn't have to move or get up for anyone. When the planes landed I had quite a bit of pain on the touchdown because of all the shaking.

After we arrived in Buenes Aires, Gene gave me some magic muscle relaxer pills. He gave me four of them and said they could be taken every 4 or 6 hours. I took one then.

The Hotel rooms were ready when we got there at about 11:am so we got a little rest before the city tour at 2:30. That took about 4 hours and when we got back to the hotel I took another pill. I could now move forward and back from the waist.

We (me and Wanda and Sara and Eda) booked a prepaid dinner from the hotel which was for a restaurant names Guardelitos. An authentic Argentinian restaurant. We got there about 7:45 and were too early they didn't start seating people until 8. They let us sit down tho and then came to the table at 8. We showed them the vouchers from the hotel and they didn't seem to know anything about it. Sara had brought the information letters that the hotel had given us describing what was included. It included an appetizer, salad, entree, desert and 1/2 bottle of wine. We couldn't make out the Spanish menu. Sara went and talked to the (I assume) manager and worked out a menu with him. She ordered burritos for our appetizer, garden salad, and beef for the entree. I was skeptical. Beef covers a lot of territory. It turned out to be some of the best steaks I had ever seen or eaten. At desert time I told them it was my birthday so my piece of desert came with a candle and everyone sang happy birthday to me. 8 other people from our group had gone there.

I took another one of Gene's pills before bed and I woke up completely cured. Now I just have normal back pain from walking etc., Boy this is a big ship and there is a lot of walking. I brought my cane with a seat and it has been very handy. I bring it every time I go off the ship. There are at least 4 other people here that have the same cane. I only get 10 free minutes so goodby.

I will try to use Rita's and Monica's 10 minutes another time

Ready

I am so ready I could sit the rest of the time at the airport gate. Anything not packed now will be done without. Passport, tickets, money those are the important things that I'm carrying with me.

I thought that I would leave some of the clothes I used in California right in their laundry bag and have them laundered on the ship but it turns out I am constitutionally incapable to packing dirty clothes. Fortunately, there is nothing in my constitutional makeup that will keep me from weating said clean clothes even tho they will not have been ironed.

I am carrying my Handy Seat Cane to take along on excursions. I don't have a book to read on the trip, everything I have here is hardcover. I may need to make a trip to the 25 cent used book store. Good thing I'm not at the airport gate.

whirlwind

My whirlwind home visit is well under way. I have gotten through my mail. Taken care of my bills and I think I have everything I need to file my taxes. I went out this morning and purchased the Tax Cut programs and am downloading updates now. It took longer to figure out and prepare the rebate forms (4 different rebates) than I plan to spend filing the taxes. I have watched 2/3 of my tapes and only have 8 hours to go. I was able to fast-forward several hours because I watched the shows with Adrienne.

I dozed about 15 minutes out of every hour yesterday. Even through the Super Bowl. I managed to miss all of the touchdowns except the last Eagles one. I didn't like any monkey commercials but I did like the clydesdales wanna-be's.

I have unpacked my California suitcase and brought (thrown) it down the basement and am well under way to packing my cruise suitcase.

Tomorrow is haircut and Windsor casino. Wednesday is laundry. Thursday is finish packing and Friday I leave at 11:30 am via Ken's Airport Shuttle arranged by Jan.

Under the B's

I needed B-15. The game was the checkmark. Three bottom Bs and the diagnal I-G and O. The prize was $3,000.00. Within about 8 numbers I was waiting. Only 2 Bs had been called. My chances were excellent. She called another number, and another. As long as she didn't call a B I was safe. She called another number and another. As more numbers were called my chances of winning by myself went down considerably. She called another number. Sure enough Ted units started to jingle. Another number, more Teds jingling. Another number. Finally a B. There were 8 winners. I wasn't one of them. Sigh.

Reality

I started watching a few new reality shows that I didn't hate. They are, Wickedly Perfect, Runway Project, The Will, and American Dream Derby.

The reality is that nobody promises to keep these shows on the air. After one episode of The Will (although it is listed in the TV Guide) there are no future episodes scheduled to air in my area, according to the Yahoo TV listings. It was replaced last night by a Cold Case episode.

Runway Project is on Bravo and they run it so often that I have lost track of the ones I have seen and the ones I have not seen. American Dream Derby is on the Games Show Channel and now there is another Apprentice starting.

I have been juggling my VCR programs all over the place but even if I record 8 hours on each VCR there is no way I can watch them all before I leave for the cruise and then re-juggle for the next 17 days after that.

Alas, I am going to have to let go of reality and settle for just taping the fiction of Coronation Street because that one is never repeated in re-runs.

Dirty Harry

Can you believe that dirty little prince. I am not of an ethnicity to be absolutely enraged but I am of a generation to be absolutely appalled and I can certainly understand the rage. When William abdicates those pictures of Harry with the swastika are going to come back and keep him from being king. Why are kids so stupid?

Happy Birthday Gretchen

First the sad news. Jacques (of Andree and..) passed away last Thursday. He has been sick for a very long time.

As Jeannette and I were leaving for the Casino Windsor today she mentioned that today was Elaine's birthday. No, I said, I thought she was born on Gretchen's -- Oh My God, this is Gretchen's birthday (Happy Birthday Gretchen) What a fine couple of mothers we are. God took care of my punishment for that.

Parallel Universe

My regular hygienist was out sick today and I had a substitute. It took a long time to get the nitrous oxide right. I don't feel like I am well under until I understand the secrets of the parallel universe. Once I get to that stage, things start to move quickly and the whole process seems to be done in no time.

I just talked to Steph. She was looking for scrapbooking help and I let her know that she really had the wrong Van Houten. I told her our senior scrapbooker was coming to town on the 22nd and she said she could pick you guys up from the airport. She can park in the employee lot and meet you at the gate (actually she said, at the plane in the jetway). Gretchen also mentioned coming down to see Kat et al and offered to go to the airport. I have let Rita know that she doesn't need to worry about driving down there in the dark on the 22nd and she was relieved.

My last layer of snow that I didn't shovel not only did not melt, it has turned to ice. aargh. But it will be warmer tomorrow.

snow again, naturally

Gretchen was here for a few minutes yesterday and she shoveled the first layer of snow. I did my layer before I went to bed. This morning all the schools were closed and I needed to shovel again. Laurie was due today but she rescheduled for tomorrow. Todays snow was really heavy and sticky. I had to hit the shovel against the ground to make it let go. The next layer is slight enough that I didn't shovel again and if the sun shines tomorrow it will disappear. I don't think there is supposed to be any more tonight. I hope not because my dentist appointment is very early (8:00 am) and I don't shovel that early.

Did anybody watch West Wing last night. I can't decide if they have replaced Stockard Channing with someone who is trying to imitate her voice or if she just had an extreme makeover.

Alone again naturally

Erika just lift after putting my house back together and installing my new printer (Jeannttte's old printer, she got one that scans and copies for xmas)

Lyle left more than an hour ago with Jackson and Erika is meeting them at Sandra's for lunch. Then she will continue home and Lyle and Son are staying another couple of days with Sandra. List is staying in town for two weeks and that should be a good distraction for Sandra so she is not expecting Dennis to walk in any minute. That may happen later.

The preacher at the funeral service was very good and didn't try to pretend that he had known Dennis personally but incorporated stories of Dennis' life that he gleaned from Audrey, Lyle, Lisa and Sandra. Unable to sleep one night Sandra sat at the computer and wrote a synopsis of their life together and he used a lot of that.

The luncheon was at a Marriott hotel in Ypsi. Lyle took over the job of flowers and Cornell took over the job of the luncheon so Sandra was able to exhale and just let things happen for a while.

Jackson delighted everyone and was in turn delighted by the other children at the luncheon. They were all able to run faster than him so sometimes he was only able to catch up when they were on their way back.

My house is going to be very quiet for a couple of weeks until Erika and Jackson come back for their trip to California. I will just sit in my chair and doze until that happens.

happy new year

Hope you all had a nice passage into the New Year. I slept through mine.

The wedding was very nice yesterday. Did any of you know there was a city in Michigan called Argentine. That's where the reception was. It is a suburb of Fowlerville. The newlyweds are moving to Fayetteville, North Carolina where husband is stationed. He has two more years to serve and is very sure that he will be deployed at least once more to the Middle East. His last tour of duty was in Pakistan.

When I got home there was a dinosaur towel hanging in my kitchen, but baby was already in bed. Rita and I just got back from the funeral home and Dennis' wake. Jackson was getting pretty tired and miserable and Erika was contemplating bringing him back here for a nap. I wish I was able to be more help in coping with him myself and I could have brought him back and kept him here for the rest of the evening. Another drawback of having your babies late in life. Grandmas are useless.

Mother and child just walked in so I guess he is going down for a nap. So far, he's not crazy about the idea.