I'm considering....

... discontinuing my weekly posts.

I started doing the weekly entries when I was in a major health crisis, and was trying to keep loved ones far away informed of the step by step process of fighting cancer.

It was easier than multiple phone calls all saying the same thing, especially because I am just not a fan of talking on the phone.

Now, I find it difficult to think of things to say in my blog from week to week.... and I only know of one person who actually reads what I write.

If there is more than one of you out there, please leave a comment, and leave your thoughts on my going back to only posting when something important happens.  

Thanks!

We had a beautiful week this past week.  It was so much cooler that we could open the screen doors in the mornings and let the fresh air in.

This was fortunate, because it was this past week that our air conditioning decided to go on the fritz.

Thankfully, the service call fee was all we had to pay, because the technician said all it needed was a cleaning.

Phew!

I got out and walked every day, and never got one heat related head ache!  Yay!

Today, we are going to go see Pop, and hope that he's awake.  It's so frustrating to go all the way up there and find him sleeping.

We usually reward ourselves with a margarita and some nachos at a restaurant that we like,  so that helps a little.

Anyway, I have a video of the Union Pacific 4014 steam engine that I hope to be able to show him.  He probably doesn't remember me telling him that they rebuilt one, and it's in steam again, so this will be all new for him.

EDIT: Here's what I posted on the Union Pacific Steam Club page after we visited Pop today:

My father-in-law is 88, and lives in a memory care home. Usually, when we go to see him, he's either asleep, or mostly incoherent, due to his unique form of dementia.

I downloaded the video my nephew took of the 4014 blowing through Wheaton, IL, as well as the night time picture my brother Cole posted earlier, and we went to visit Pop.

I found a picture of the 4023 in one of Pop's train books, and we looked at that picture while I told him about the restoration of the 4014 (again).

Then, I got my lap top, and played the video for him, and he just busted out in the biggest smile I think I have ever seen on his face. He was totally engaged, and lucid, with us for those few minutes.

He even commented with the critical eye of an artist on the beauty of the "sleeping giant" picture.

It was such a gift!!

Thanks, Ed and crew, and everyone else who brought the Big Boy back to life.

We live in OKC, and hope to see it ourselves some day!

Anyway.....We got the chores and yard work done yesterday, so there is nothing else pressing to do today.

Dog days

Not much to write about this week.

It's been super hot all week.  Like in the 100 degree range, with heat index readings well above 100.  Seems that's been the case over much of the country. 

I know Chicagoland has been dealing with it, too.

The scary thing is that it's happening in parts of the country where the folks aren't used to it.  Like Alaska.

It becomes dangerous no matter what, but when people are ill-prepared, they die.

My boss's funeral was well-attended, and there was, indeed, an actual changing of the guard.

My employer is the local ambulance company, and they provide an honor guard at events and funerals that are pertinent in the community.

They did the honor guard thing for Vicki.

It was impressive, and evoked a lot of emotion.  There were 8 guards, in dress uniforms, with white gloves.  The one standing by the ashes changed 3 time before the service started.

We were let out of work an hour and a half before the service, and the person I rode with and I got there first, and just waited and waited. 

Apparently, everyone else went out for lunch, but no one told us, or invited us to join them. 

Just like no one offered to give me a ride until the last possible minute, even though I asked three times (once in a meeting, once by wandering around asking people I thought would be likely candidates, and once in a group email).

One person couldn't NOT smoke for a half hour so I could ride with her.  I thought she could have smoked outside before and after we got in her car, but she was not willing to do that, and I can't be around cigarette smoke.  I hate it, for one thing, and I get blisters inside my eye lids when I am around it.

It seems that the person who drove me, and I, are the outcasts, and she was willing to leave me without a ride until all other options were gone, and so was everyone else in the office, which  makes me the most outcast of all! 

Whatever.

I thought management should have arranged car pools, but I am not management, and my idea was not taken up.  I also think the REASON for letting us leave an hour and a half before the service should have been clarified (so we could go to lunch).  I ate at my desk before I punched out, because I didn't want to be starving until the funeral ended at 2.

SO, we waited there alone and watched the changing of the guard a couple of times more than anyone else, so that was pretty cool.

The rest of the week has just been a series of dashing from the car into buildings to stay out of the heat.

The good thing is that the grass isn't growing much, so no yard work needs to be done.

The handy man/contractor came back and finished the bits of the roofing job that were not done, or were done badly.  We're still waiting to see if the insurance is going to actually pay as much as they said they would.

I don't understand how they can give an approved amount, and then change their minds AFTER the work is completed....

Our contractor says State Farm does that all the time.....he's used to it....

Well, that's all fine and dandy, but it leaves US with having to pay him hundreds more than anticipated! 

We'll see what happens.

Today, we have to run to Lowe's, and will go see if Pop is awake, but that's all we have planned outside of the house.

Have a good week, dear readers. If there is more than one of you, HAHA.

Changing of the guard

Well, my boss died on Wednesday.

According to my co worker (who has his job because he is a friend of her family, like me, only MUCH closer), she never really woke up after last Saturday, and the family took her off of life support and dialysis by Monday.

The hospital kept her in ICU, but they stepped her down to "comfort care," which means that they basically drugged her into an induced coma and waited for her to die.

I am glad that her suffering is over, and I am glad that her family was around her when she stopped breathing.

We all get to leave work tomorrow at 11:30 to go to the funeral.


In other news....

there isn't much....

We celebrated our 11th anniversary on Friday, with dinner and cocktails at a cool "retro" styled supper club.

The old school cocktail menu is extensive and interesting, but the food menu is not, HAHA.

We ordered beef stroganoff to split, and I am pretty sure that it was doctored up Hamburger Helper.  It was pretty bad!

But the place has a fun atmosphere, and the drinks were great.  We'll go back some time, not anticipating good food!

Maybe just get a cocktail and an appetizer.

Yesterday, I went to yoga class in the morning, and then a massage therapist friend followed me home from class, and I had a Reiki client for the first time in years!

It felt SO GOOD to do healing work for someone again!  I would love to try to rebuild a practice around doing Reiki and other kinds of esoteric healing work.  I don't need strong hands to do that, just ALL of my other skills!

Today, Dave is mowing right now before it gets too hot, and then we will make a run to Costco, then back home for a relaxing afternoon.

Yikes...

We got the bill for Dave's E/R visit!  Jeez....

The full charges were almost $2000!!  Our portion is  $407.

Yippee.

In other news, remember that idiot on the motor cycle who pulled out in front of us last summer?  He had no insurance, expired tag, and no mirrors on the bike....

The investigation started by our insurance company, that eventually involved their attorneys, seems to have turned something up.

I got a letter from the state on Friday, indicating that they found him, despite his false address and phone number, and he went to court.

The judge ordered him to deposit $1600 into an account that I can withdraw from, once we both (myself, being the car owner, and the idiot on the motor cycle) sign some documents, and get them notarized.

The letter says that he can refuse to sign his portion, and that I can then sue him.

Dave will call our insurance agent tomorrow, as the letter from the state indicates that we should contact them. 

My guess is that they will take the money, but we'll see.

I'd like to recover our $800 deductible at least.

If that works out, then I can pay the E/R bill in full with left overs!

The timing probably won't work out, though.  I would imagine that this payment from the court will take a long time to come through, if I get anything at all out of it.

We were supposed to go to Houston for our long holiday weekend (we took Friday off), but it didn't happen.  Our hostess had a death in her family.

SO, we have really enjoyed just being free and easy with our days off.

We got one grocery store trip done on Thursday, and another on Friday.

We went to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on Friday for a lovely special exhibit, and spent way too much money eating out a couple of times.

(that was before the E/R bill came, haha!)


Remember that my boss, who has now retired, was diagnosed with cancer last year?

The news is that she is not doing well at all.

The tumor is not responding to chemo this time, and has become huge.

It's in her abdomen, and the last time she was seen at the office (she just came in for a meeting with the VP and left--not coming back to see us even for a brief moment), she was in a wheel chair.

The location of the tumor is causing her legs to swell to the point of making her unable to walk.

Since then, she has become bed ridden, and I received news yesterday that she is currently in the intensive care unit at the hospital across from the office.

I remember when I told my doctor about my boss, and told him it was neuroendocrine cancer, he grimaced and said "Oh no, that's too bad...."

He went on to explain that, while it might have responded miraculously to the first round of chemo, that it WOULD come back, and she could go through multiple times of it coming and going, but that it would likely stop responding at some point.

He was right, but she only got one successful round of chemo.  She and her family have now elected to stop treatment, since it's not doing anything.

While I admittedly had my differences with her (tying to coerce me to leave, and making my job a living hell while I was in chemo), I am sorry that she is suffering.

I hope they are able to make her somewhat comfortable.

Today, Dave is hoping to finally do the trimming in the yard that he has been putting off for a couple of weeks, and we will go later to dinner with his son (and possible future daughter in law).

In the meantime, I will be doing laundry and my usual chores, which I have also put off.

Time to get busy!