And a long week it's been too! I worked 40 hours this week. I haven't done that since August 2003!!! Whew.Mama has settled down. She's still hurting and still worried about whether the surgery worked because the nerve across the top of her left hip still hurts when she walks...but of course it hasn't had time to heal yet. She really knows that...but there's still that little bit of doubt and worry that she's gone through the pain of surgery for nothing.I remembered to put my camera in my purse. This is what the western evening sky looked like yesterday (Thursday) when I left the library (it's behind me). 
The weather was really supposed to kick up. It did east of us in Louisiana, but we weren't hit hard at all. Thank God! Daingerfield is an old town...supposed to be the second oldest in Texas after Nacogdoches. The above photo is actually a second location. The original town was several blocks south...and burned. Businesses moved to the railroad track to rebuild. The cars are parked by probably the newest church building in town...although another is in the process of being built now.
I took some "color" photos on the way home.
Even though I worked the library today...will all week...and stopped by Mama's twice, things seemed slower. Marilyn checked her this morning before she left for work. I almost had to roll a patron to the door in a rolling chair from the computer area and boot her out for lunch. Sheesh! I made a quick trip to Mama's and got her lunch set out. She asked for the chicken salad, some orange salad*, a slice of apple, and she got her own drink. Kissed her on the check. Back in the 4-Runner to meet Sam in town at Hawkins...about the only thing I eat there is a fish sandwich... it has REAL fried catfish fillets on the bun with cheese and tartar sauce...not a frozen breaded fish square.After work, I made a run to the grocery store for my groceries...then back to Mama's. She was ready for another shower...and once again asked for chicken salad, etc.Tomorrow is another day...Oh...the orange salad...1 pkg. orange Jello1 tub Cool Whip8 ounces cottage cheese1 can Mandarin orange slices, drained (sometimes I use 2 cans...love 'em!!)Take a dry package of Jello...do not add the water. Mix it with the Cool Whip and cottage cheese. Stir well to incorporate the Jello powder. Add the Mandarin oranges. Stir. Refrigerate.You can use sugar-free Jello and (if you like it) the sugar free and/or fat free Cool Whip. You can also use different flavors of Jello and different canned fruits...
I must've really been out of it yesterday. I don't have 'a' sister. LOL Don't know why I'd want 'another' one. Sheesh.Mama's on her own. She has food in the refrigerator. I got scatter rugs off the floor. PIcked up odds and ends of things she's piled where it's convenient. (I'll be in trouble when she can maneuver enough to start trying to locate her possessions.) Laundry baskets set aside for jammies and undies... and another for towels. The laundry room is straightened up with her new upright freezer in place. Baby brother Joey has to move the two filing cabinets out of the dining room back into the laundry room. I put two pieces of paper in the proper places on the floor with directions about which cabinet goes where (not where they were). When he gets it done...I'll see if he follows directions. LOLMost of all...Mama is coherent. She's following medication directions. Not getting up and roaming the house at night. I'm concerned about her fluid intake so took the insulated large mug the hospital charged an arm and a leg for, packed it with ice, filled it with water and put the lid on with the straw. I left her with instructions to drink from it every time she passed it. This evening when I went to check on her...there wasn't but about an inch and a half gone. She does drink milk when she takes her meds as well as a glass of tea with her meals. So she's probably getting more fluid intake than I realize.Older brother Junior (yep, got one of them), his wife, and their teenage grandson were there. They brought food! Grilled chicken and ribs, scalloped potatoes, pinto beans, cheese, barbeque sauce. We sat and visited. Younger brother BJ came in. He wanted t-shirts for the 'family reunion.' I think Mama dropped him on his head when he was a baby. ;o) Eventually everyone left. I got her supper on the table. Junior had cooked for me...so I brought my part home and shared with Sam.Don't go "Shame!" Mama's not much on left over meat. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!And the story continues...
Got her home. Oh MY!!! Why couldn't I have had another sister?! One who also doesn't work outside the home???!!! And could help with this woman? YOU think your mother is a piece of work...you should know mine. I do have one sister-in-law who does a fantastic job...as much as Mama will let her. I just bulldoze in and do it...to a certain extent. Marilyn also has a day job...but she is SO good. I cleaned out Mama's laundry room where she's just stuffed things over the last 9 years...or more. Boxes that the toaster/telephone/bath scales/telephone (yep another)/etc. were trashed along with a bunch of other stuff. I think between the kitchen's outdated stuff and the laundry room I bagged up 4 or 5 bags of trash.
I made the mistake of mentioning trashing a box of lids...instant coffee/Miracle Whip salad dressing/peanut butter. Well....I had to go dig it outta the trash. "Lids are plastic now. Those will be antiques!" Yeah...75 years after she dies!! Being the good daughter that I am...I retrieved them...and threw something else away so that the box would fit back in the cabinet. ;o)Mama did take a jaunt with walker in hand into the laundry room to check on her new freezer. She liked the baskets I put in to make certain a bag of frozen hard squash/tomatoes/etc. did not fall out and break one of her toes or feet.We sat at the dining table yesterday...mid-afternoon...for a snack so that she could take a pill. Then she proceeded to sort through her private drug store and set aside her dosage before bedtime. THEN, she tilted the medicine cup into her mouth. NO! Those are for tonight!!! She rolled them out of her mouth and back into the cup. SO...today...when I ran to town to put gas in her car and buy a few groceries, I also picked up a 4 time-a-day 7 days-a-week pill sorter. She wasn't going to use it. So...I issued the ultimatum. "You either sit right there after lunch and sort your pills on your own (with me sitting beside her), or 'I' am going to do it. IF I have to do it, I'll confiscate the bottles and carry them back and forth with me." It worked. We sorted and sectioned pills. After her last surgery a couple/three years back, she stayed with us. One night she got kookie or as baby brother the Brat AKA Joey would say, "Goofey as a car-hit dog." Sam is almost positive that she double-dosed herself before bedtime. I'm going to try my best to make certain that doesn't happen again.Remember...she can't take the 'good' stuff. But combinations can be disasterous.This afternoon is set aside for 'iron her clothes.' Yikes! I better get back over there before she's up from her nap!
Colors are changing around here. I forgot to put my camera in my purse so haven't taken any photos. Like I really have time though with Mama in the hospital.I got a late start today. On Hwy 271 between Gilmer and Gladewater, I saw a guy on a bicycle...pulling a trailer. The sign on the back of the trailer said "Broke and hungry..." and more stuff, but I didn't get a chance to read it all before I whizzed past him. If I'd had my camera, I would've done a u-turn and come up behind him again for a photo. Sigh. That's why I almost always carry my camera with me.Mama had her back surgery yesterday. She was miserable! The hospital is a small one with only 20 beds that I could see. Each room is a private room. There are only two patients per nurse!!! Can you imagine that ratio? So...I did not feel the need to stay with her...which I would've done if she'd been in any of the other hospitals in the area.As I walked past the nurses' station, I asked, "How's she doing today?" The CNA said, "Great." I raised an eyebrow...she said, "Really." Let me tell you...it was like the difference in night and day. Mama looked surprised that I even came. Duh... I visited with her. Helped her to the bathroom and back. Got her tucked in again. Lunch came...she ate. Then her medicine came. She took it and settled back. I knew that if I stayed she'd talk the whole time so... I got up...gave her a kiss...and left.Made a swing through Longview to look at upright freezers. Joey and I are pulling one on her...For several years Mama has been talking about getting rid of her 40+ year old chest freezer. (Do you think she got her money's worth out of this one?!) The lining to the lid has separated from the lid...the gasket has turned loose. When you raise the lid, you have to also grab for the gasket and lining and hold it with one hand while searching for whatever you wanted. The lid has whacked her in the head a time or two. Plus she's gotten to where she can't reach the bottom any more. She had a box or two on the bottom of the freezer so that the food is higher and she can reach it.For the last year Joey and I have tried to work around her and get the old freezer out before she kills herself. You know...one of these days she is going to go missing. When we call out all the searchers and scour the woods...you know that she will actually be found in the bottom of the freezer where she toppled in...When Joey has time to get the old freezer out...it hasn't been convenient for her. I told her to go sit in the living room and that I would help him empty the freezer. Well... I talked to Joey. This afternoon I filled her refrigerator freezer and an ice chest with what little she had in that 23 cubic foot freezer. The contents of the ice chest are now in my freezer.I called her at the hospital to check on her this evening. At first I wasn't going to tell her that we were getting rid of the freezer...but I needed to know what size she wanted in an upright. And if she'd take the one with a scratch on the door if Lowe's will discount it. Yeppers. So...hopefully Joey and his friend will get the old freezer out tomorrow because Sam is going to Longview after something. When I told Sam about my errand, we are going in the pickup. We'll swing by Lowe's and haggle over the scratched freezer. IF we can make a deal, we'll come home with it. If not, we'll go over to Sears and get the same size freezer for the same price without a scratch.Then I'll need some plastic baskets to go on the shelves in the upright so nothing falls out and breaks her toe.Can't you just hear her phone call to me?! "Sherry! This freezer you bought me..." ;o)
Everyone else do not scroll down... If you look....remember...it's makeup!!! But now you understand why his heirship (is that a word?) is in danger.*************
Okay...photo is gone. I can't stand looking at it.
I completed this. I started it last spring. The 'yarn' is ribbon yarn...something I just fell in love with. Had to have. Then didn't know what to do with it. This shell works great over a long sleeve t-shirt. Can't wait for the weather to be cold enough to wear it. Possibly next week...
And I can't sit idle for long. I've started a pair of socks. These are going relatively fast for me. Just one more pattern repeat and I start the heel.
Misted, drizzled, mizzled...on us all day yesterday. Mama and I headed out for Tyler about 7:30 a.m. yesterday. Got to the clinic early and they started her pre-op just about when we got there. Unfortunately she had just enough time to go to the restroom. THEN when they needed her to tinkle in a cup...she couldn't. We were there two hours before she finally squeezed out 1/4". LOL When you need to go...you gotta go NOW. When someone else wants you to go...you can't even if they're holding a gun on you.Well....if someone held a gun on me I think I'd pee all over myself anyway. ;o)Up to the doctor's office to fill out the consent papers and be told that Longview had not sent the cd with the Cat Scan on it...yet! From early September. So...we traipsed over to Longview to Good Shepherd and picked up the cd. I'll overnight it to Tyler today.I didn't do anything after I got home except sit. What did I do for supper? Uh...I remember sitting down to eat...at my very own favorite table...in my house. Sheesh! Must not've been able to taste it cause I certainly can't remember. OH! Hot dogs. Actually, the sniffer and taster are slowly coming back. Mama and I ate at On the Border yesterday. With the wet cool weather, I thought tortilla soup would be good. Mediocre. But Mama thought so too so it wasn't just my inability to taste. Meanwhile Sam at ate Don Juan's in Hughes Springs. (They have good Mexican food!) So...I figured I could get away with hot dogs last night since he'd had a good lunch. If not...he could've gone back to town. ;o)Even though I haven't started cutting out the quilt, I did finish a knitted top and have already started another pair of socks. I'll eventually drag the camera out to take a photo of the top...one of these days so don't hold your breath.Pouring down rain today! But a bit warmer. This has been our cycle for a while now...cool...wet...warm...dry...cool...wet...warm...dry...etc.Later...
Small town...small event. But, Oh! How much fun! I am so glad that I volunteered to help present baked goods to the judges ... I wound up inside all morning instead of out in the drizzly damp weather. Still battling this cold so that was the best place for me. Weather people missed it all around...we were supposed to have sun and party cloudly. LOLI presented the baked goods to the judges. Snuck a bite of a delicious looking chocolate cake...could only detect creamy icing and sweet. This dratted cold has affected my senses of smell and taste. NOTHING has any flavor! I can detect sweet, sour, tart, salt, spicy heat...that's it. Upside...I've lost about four pounds. Downside...for Sam anyway...I'm not cooking. I'm not going out to eat. Sam can't understand my logic...why spend money on food I can't taste?! I grab a bite of something here and the hunger is barely satisfied...but since I can't satisfy the taste issue...I'm eating enough.I entered quilts and socks in the 'county fair.' Everything was judged in it's own category, but then the highest scores from the categories were pooled into the divisions (or vice versa) and ribbons awarded to the top three. For instance in Needlework, I won 1st place with this:
2nd place with this:
3rd place with this:
So you would think the socks would be in their own category...they were. But then the three highest points from Quilts, Knitting, Crochet, Embroidery, etc. were taken from all the categories and ribbons awarded to only the top three.But hey! I'm not complaining!! ;o)I saw people I haven't seen in quite awhile. A cousin who now lives in Alaska...hadn't seen him since 2000. A guy headed the other direction saw me and shouted out my name. I threw up a hand and waved at him. I STILL don't have the foggiest idea who he was. LOL With a brother 11 years younger...it could've been one of his friends. Saw high school classmates...and lots of other people.After the baked goods judging, then a hamburger lunch...which I ate about half. I could taste smoke from the meat...and tart from the dill pickles...sigh...I went to help out in the library's Friends group booth. We sell cold drinks. LOL We should've had coffee and cocoa! But they told me that we'd sold quite a few drinks during the chili tasting ;o) and several cookbooks. We were sitting under someone else's canopy and they were ready to leave so we packed up about 2 or 2:30. I collected my quilts and socks and went home...took some cough syrup...tried to find something that had some flavor. Sigh. Eventually went to bed.
Didn't it though? ;o)
