Tuesday, April 10, 2012

HAPPENINGS AT THE HOUSE

Today has been a "take it easy" day...Ken not doing great at all, and I'm still recovering. Before I go to bed tonight I will get the kitchen cleaned up (floors). Ken washed all rugs/mats. It's been tough, but we're hanging in there. The two "nappers" caught in the pic above represent about what we got done today!

Police detectives have been out the last couple of days - they're investigating the shooting that occurred last week when someone tried to kill our neighbor ... bullet casings all in our driveway, the street in front of our house, the yard, and the neighbor's car. We have nothing to help the detectives except that I heard the shots (Ken was asleep and did not hear them). Hope they are able to piece together information. They told Ken that our neighborhood is being patrolled much more than it was previously. I guess that's a good thing but it doesn't say anything positive about our neighborhood!

New Dinner Place

We went to a different place for dinner tonight - Zorro's. I haven't been there before, and it's been about 3 years since Ken ate there. It was ok - buffet style. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about. We're looking for something to take the place of Luby's since they've gone to pot. Don't think Zorro's is the answer.

Beautiful Angel, Erin Attel

Heard from work today - the 5 year old daughter of work friends has been battling the monster that invaded her body for quite some time. Courtesy of Make a Wish she went to Disney World a few months ago, but now she is at home and she will be going to heaven soon. She has not had intake of food, etc., for four days now. I just hate this for Monica and Ed. They are such wonderful people, and Erin was one of two precious gifts after years of trying for a child. What does one say to parents of a child who is dying? How can one help? I don't think there is anything that can be done or said. I cannot imagine the pain they are suffering as they watch this child fading away. I pray she is not suffering.

Finding a Job

On another note, I got job offers today. I signed up for part-time merchandising work and have received several offers. I haven't responded...not sure about some of them. Have you seen food demonstrators? How about those people who sell cookware or knives at fairs? What about folks who go into a store to remove products from a shelf, reface and redo the products? Well, it's along those lines. Except one offer is an electronics company, but they want someone to work every day - and I don't want to. Have to do something, however, because money is t-i-g-h-t!!! Will be better next year when I'm 65 and insurance is less, and when Saturn is paid off. In the meantime, need part-time work. I may be applying at Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, or CVS as well as other close-by places. Don't care where I work - just need to bring in a little cash - and don't want to work full time.

Miscellaneous

Wanting to go on vacation, but having a hard time this year because I don't want to leave Luci and Bennie behind. Bennie is my "little boy" - hand raised, totally attached; and Luci is the little girl dog baby I should have had all these years. I fall for her more every day and so does Ken.

Oh, well, enogh old lady ramblings for today...rest well.

Sunday, April 8, 2012 - Easter

Easter Sunday

Very quiet day. I am recovering from the crud, but didn't wake up until 10:56 a.m. And now Ken has the symptoms I have had...bad sore throat, coughing, chills, etc. It is 11:13 p.m. here and Ken went to bed some time ago with one of my antibiotics and Robitussin. I hope he recovers quicker than me, and hope I don't get it again from him.

So, we got nothing done, and did nothing important. Played on the computer a bit, flipped thru TV channels. About 6 p.m. we managed to drive to Luby's for dinner. Wow! It's been about a month since we were in there and in that short amount of time the place has really gone down.

I think next Sunday we will visit a nearby church - Oakgrove Baptist. Some of my cousins go there and it is not too far - off of 1187. We are ready to get into a Bible-based/believing church. We have definitely decided to leave the church I've called my church home since 1974/75.

Butterflies

When we first moved here, my friend Penny Comparini gave us a very tiny plant - we have no idea what it is. We made the mistake of planting it next to the patio on the west side. It grew up to be as tall as the house and every year we have to cut it back because it grows so wide that it spreads under the patio cover. I'm always threatening to spray it with killer. Well guess what! This year that thing has small white blooms on it! And we have butterflies by the hundreds in that shrub! Ken keeps going out to the yard and just standing there looking at all the butterflies! I guess we won't be cutting down that one after all.

Landscaping

Tomorrow we start cutting down the two evergreens in the back - one by each patio post. They died due to the drought last year. No matter how much Ken watered them, they just didn't make it. They are very big, so we will just start cutting branches and sawing on them until we get them down small enough to dig out. It is so sad to see them go. Ken planted those about the first summer we were here - in 2002.

Most everything in the yard has been planted as a celebration - the birth of a grandchild, a special day, etc. So it hurts to see things go. We are excited, however, that several things are coming back -- we thought for sure the maiden grass was dead, and thought the rose bush by the mail box was gone. but both are greening up! The tree in the front has leaves, and the crepe myrtle in the back is already green! We've got to trim the wisteria...unfortunately almost all the pretty part of it is in the neighbors back yard, having grown over the fence. Still, we've got to cut back dead branches. And we need to transplant lots of jew from the front yard to the front tree bed. It helps hold in moisture so we want lot of it under that tree. We had to put out ant killer last week and are having to wait before we can do anything else. All the grass that Ken put in last year died in the drought, so we have to get more. And we've got to get fertilizer out on the yard, along with flea and tick treatment.

We're thinking about possibly putting in a small above ground pool - maybe 15' x 48". We'll see. We've got to see if we have enough level yard for that. At the same time we're thinking about saying to heck with all of it and moving into an apartment or buying a condo. Just do not want all this maintenance any more, but then again...

So, so much for today. Hopefully tomorrow will be the beginning of a better week. Love to all...

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Emergency Room Drama

Could not take the sickness any more. We called Dr. F. yesterday about noon and he sent me to the ER at Baylor (I am a transplant patient at Baylor). The signs of rejection are very similar to those of the flu so he wanted blood work and chest x-rays.

Never been seen as quickly as I was yesterday. When we walked in, told them our reason for being there, I was immediately tagged (bracelets) and moved to an ER room. I was immediately seen, blood work drawn, x-rays done, meds checked out, etc. Then the waiting began for results.

In the meantime a gentleman in the curtained room next to me was moved to a hospital room. A younger man was brought in by ambulance. He had physical injuries and was talking out of his head, kept calling for Jessica. He was told there was no one there by that name. Turns out he had been in a fight. Jessica is supposedly his wife. Guess he caught her with her boyfriend and he got hurt in the ordeal. But he was so out of his head that he thought everybody was lying to him about Jessica not being there. So he got out of his bed and was coming into MY curtained off area. Needless to say Ken wasn't happy about that at all - Ken's not strong enough to fight him off, and I'm in there on a gurney in nothing but a hospital gown. The nursing staff finally got him back in his bed and then had to get security to come take care of the fellow and restrain him. They finally got an IV line into him and gave him some meds so they could get him settled down.

My situation turned out to be ok. No pneumonia; no bacterial infection; kidney function great. Blood sugar was over 400 so had to stay there until it started downward trend. Have no idea why it would be over 400 - I had nothing to eat but a one package bowl of oatmeal with raisins (no sugar, no sweetner) yesterday morning. Oh, I did have a diet coke and a package of crackers around noon. Suspect is caused by the steroids and additional antibiotics. I was discharged home; should be better in about six weeks (takes a long time for those of us with no immune system).

We stopped at Braum's on the way home (we left hospital about 7) and then we drove home thru the Ryan Place neighborhood so we could see the new roundabouts put in to slow down thru traffic. I was thrilled to make it back to the house and now can get Ken to stop hovering over me every time I ego into a deep coughing spell. Must admit I will be glad to get over this - I am tired of peeing my britches all the time - that's exactly what happens when I have one of the coughing episodes.

Oh, did get a new inhaler for the asthma. It's albuterol sulfate - glad the nurse told Ken it would cause me to shake/tremble. Otherwise he would freak out.

That being said, I haven't done anything of value thus far today. I've been told not to do anything physical, so I think instead I'll work on some of my quilting projects.

Family Hell Again

My husband was talking with his sister and learned that his dad (be 92 in May) has been in the hospital this week having his pacemaker changed out. DH knew nothing about it - no one bothered to tell him. The sister (who lives out of town) said, "He didn't want anybody to know about it." So DH says something like, "Well, you knew." To which the sister promptly said she had to go - she's out of town. What DH suspects is that she is in THIS town with the dad. So now Ken is all upset, crying, depressed, and his weekend has been ruined.

Ken's family has nothing to do with him; his son and wife decided in 2009 that DH is not worthy of being a part of his family and let him know that he will never be a part of his child's life (born in January 2010). DH has never seen the baby, etc. The entire rest of the family conspired to keep the news from Ken and to further keep DH excommunicated from the family. What makes me so mad is that just about the time he adjusts to that, somebody communicates with DH and lets him know that this or that is happening, etc., and then DH (who is under the care of MHMR and docs due to depression, etc.) gets all down again. I wish if the damn family was going to treat him so cruely by not allowing him to be part of the family that they would all just leave him the hell alone completely. I can guarantee if DH kicks off before me that I will never notify a damn one of them about his passing. I have watched how this family treats DH for over 10 years. He doesn't deserve it.

Hopefully the day will get better. It's beautiful outside.

Bluebonnets at Dutch Branch Park, Benbrook Lake

We needed to do something to get back into good spirits, so we loaded up the doggies (Maggie, Bennie, and Luci) and drove out to Dutch Branch Park at Benbrook lake. We drove around a bit, took a few pics of the bluebonnets (everywhere this year!), got out at one of the lake areas to let the dogs enjoy seeing something different, and then came home in much better spirits. We really need to do that more often.

This is Daddy doing the "doggie dance." Maggie and Bennie always get wrapped around each other, us, and whatever pole or obstacle is in the way.
Luci Grace had a blast. This was her first outing other than going to the vet. And now she is completely tuckered out. She definitely needs a bath! And so do the other two, but Luci is the only one I can bathe myself. (Maggie is the black spaniel; Bennie Jo is the dachshund.)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Made it out of the house today...first time since March 20. Went to Dr. S. with K. Nothing done to stop the screaming back pain. K has to have another MRI.

After K's doc appointment, we went to Mexican Inn for lunch. Friend Gwen came in shortly afterward. Was so good to see her. Then shortly afterward friend Lindy and his daughter Kate came in (check out http://www.adlerandhearne.com/?section=bio). Good to see them, too, since Kate had a horrible wreck out on 820 east yesterday right in the time of the horrible weather. Totaled her car, but she walked away. Had to go for x-rays today, but so far so good. Thank goodness!

Next stop for us was Luck Optical. I am quite obsessed with my eye glasses because for a few years my sight was so bad I couldn't get a prescription. Thanks to Dr. Matthews my eyes are improved to the point I can have glasses. Good thing, because last year was time to renew my driver's license...I failed the eye test. So between Dr. Matthews and the doc at Luck they came up with glasses for me! I went back and passed the test. Anyway, the right lens kept popping out of my frame...the Luck tech fixed that in less than 30 minutes.

Next stop was the lobby of Luck where we borrowed seating while we made a call to my kidney transplant doc's office. I spilled the beans about being so very sick and I got my hand slapped a bit about not having contacted before today since I've been ill since March 20. She told me she would talk to the doc and call me back before closing today.

On to Garden Ridge. I was looking for two quilts that are alike that I can use to make cushion and arm covers for our sofa and love seat. I have to protect them from the fur children. We found a couple, but I'm not completely happy with them, so we'll look again when I'm feeling a bit better. But while there Dr. F's nurse called back...said she was calling in two prescriptions. We picked those up on the way home.

So, about 6:30 we left the house again to go to Palio's Pizza where we each got a personal pizza...mine was the Hawaiian Surprise except I added chicken. Have no idea what Ken got except he added jalapinos to it!

And that's about it for now...my evening will be filled with shuffling through the stack of bills and spending the rest of the monthly retirement check to pay them. Grrrr!!!

Oh, I got a lead on a job today...I'm going to check it out. It won't be much, but will give me a little bit of income (spare change for the sewing hobby), and get me out of the house.

Take care, God bless everyone, be safe, and much love to my children and grandchildren.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Should have been a typical, boring day. BUT, wasn't.

Ken has been screaming in pain for two weeks. He's had MRI, CT scan, been on high-powered pain meds and steroids. He has had no rest, no sleep, this entire time, and last night was the worst. He has cried throughout this time because the pain is so overwhelming. His doc has been out of town for the past week and the on-call doc would not see him. Today Ken begged to go to the hospital, but then...

Horrible stormy weather hit our area, tornado warnings, etc. We turned on the tv to see the weather. OMG, unbelievable. We were fortunate, we thought.

After all was said and done I was going to shower and then take Ken to hospital - even though I have been sick with what I suspect is pneumonia for two weeks (can't go to hospital to find out, because have to be able to see about Ken). Ken was apparently going to go somewhere because he went out to the garage and the garage door would not open! He put the opener in manual mode, but we couldn't get the door open. Apparently something is broken. Ken called a couple of overhead door companies, but they wanted over $200 to come out to fix it. We don't have it. This is one of those things I kept warning K. about last year when I was preparing to retire -- "Get prepared, times are going to be tough, because I will not have money." Told him then that he needed to find a job, go back to work, not depend on me.

With the overhead door companies still on the phone he is telling me we HAVE to get this fixed. And I'm yelling at him that there is NO money to pay to have it fixed! After all, he decided LAST week that the A/C had to be serviced and he wrote a check for over $400 for that to come out of my retirement check that hit on the first. He was still insistent that we had to have them come out...I told him if he could SHHHHTTTT the money, then ok, but that I couldn't!!!

When the man across the street came home from work, Ken got him to come over to help him get the door open so he could get the cars out. Ken brought this man thru this nasty, stinking, house that hasn't been cleaned in two weeks. I was very upset about that. Oh, well, there's nothing I can do about it.

The cars are out of the garage, at least we can get to the doc/hospital. Of course we never go in/out the front door so I have no idea if we have a key for it!! It will be a couple of weeks before we can get the garage door fixed. The sad thing is, my son-in-law does garage door work, but my daughter did not even answer the text message I sent her.

Just another day in the life...

Monday, April 2, 2012

GUN SHOTS IN THE HOOD!

Dang! I was sitting here playing on my blog site and FB when I heard bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!! At close range!! Ken had gone to bed, so had the dogs except Luci. I turned out the lights, then Luci and I tiptoed to the front window in DH's office. I saw Mitch across the street come out with a flashlight and cross to my next door neighbor's house. My next door neighbor is a police officer, and has a police car in the driveway.

Luci and I went to the window in the front bedroom to see what was happening and saw Mitch and the neighbor walking up and down the street point to things with a flashlight but not touching anything. Then cop cars started showing up.

Seems the Police Officer's son, Trey (about 22 years old, former Army, now works at Home Depot) had been coming home from work. Right there in front of his house they shot at him! They hit his car, shot out a tire, about 8 or 9 shell casings were found up and down the street. Thank God he's ok! Some of those casings are in our driveway and our yard...I said it was close range! Trey says the only thing he can think of is that they thought he was following them - and all he was doing was coming home! It was a 4-door black pick up.

Scary! What a horrible ending to a weekend!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Jelly Roll Strip Quilt

I purchased one of the Moda "Deep in the Heart of Texas" jelly rolls when at the Dallas Quilt Show. I've felt so bad I haven't done anything with it. Still feel horrible (giving up and tomorrow going to allow DH to hospitalize me - he doesn't know yet), but wanted to sew last night. Knew it had to be something simple or would really mess it up feeling this bad!

Since I love the "Arizona Sunrise" test quilt made by following the tutorial from Missouri Start Quilt Company, I decided that would be what I would do with the "Texas" jelly roll as well. DH helped me set up my beautiful black Singer 301 long bed machine, and I started in sewing strips together. As Jenny in the tutorial says, I just opened up the jelly roll and didn't do anything but pick up one strip after another and sew them together end-to-end on the bias. I am having second thoughts about that now that the strips are sewn together.

By not separating the strips a bit, in some places there is too much of some patterns, in some places the same patterns are abutted, and in the center there is a very light strip that doesn't seem to go in the quilt at all (but it was in the roll). I think I've learned I will be a bit more discriminating the next time.

This does not mean I will not use and enjoy this quilt. I'm trying to get some things made up that are actually for our place. I'm wanting to do some "Texas" decor in the den - not overpowering, just some touches. When finished this quilt will hang on the wall above the sofa.

Difficult to get a picture of the entire quilt top. DH just saw it - he likes it. I've got to find some fabrics in this line to complete the quilt. I'm thinking the bright red will be my choice for a border, and then maybe a bluebonnet fabric for the backing. I plan to complete this quilt with straight line quilting, which will take me a bit of time and lots of thread! I plan to stitch horizontally with a 1/4" stitch line on either side of each joining seam.

I have another Jelly Roll - by Moda, called "Summer Breeze." I will do some rearranging of strips before I sew them together.

Again, a great learning project. Can't wait to complete it and get it hung. Must get great niece Presley's "Arizona Sunrise" completed first.

God bless - thanks for looking! Comments appreciated.