Weekly Report

The last two times Jonathan has visited, he's been eyeballing the small covered crocks on the top of my wall cabinets. He wants one for his sourdough starter. I have nine-feet tall ceilings and a space above the cabinets. I REFUSED to cover the top of the wall cabinets with silk leaves and flowers or even baskets. Everything up there can be taken down and washed. And everything really, really needs to be taken down and washed...but that's for another day. ;o)

I found this at an antique/junk store in Longview. I think it's perfect! No one has to climb a ladder and then stand on my countertop either. What say ye, Jonathan?Guess what I did yesterday? Yep! LOL Got the car washed. After the gym, I watered some trees. I've got a crepe myrtle that's really heat distressed. I carried two buckets down to that tree three times...about 10-15 gallons. Then, I gathered pears. I felt something crawling on my left shin. I looked down. A RED WASP was crawling up my leg. ARRRGGGGHHHHH! What to do?! This is the second time a wasp has landed on me! First time was in a restaurant. Sam thumped it off my shoulder then stomped it.

This time? What to do? Nearly frozen, I looked around. Saaaammmmm. Where are you? Hmmm...In the shop. In my left hand, I held a bag filled with pears? Nope. A broken twig on the pear tree? Hmmm? I broke the end off the twig, took a deep breath, swiped the wasp off my shin. It landed on the ground. Hallelujah! I ground the wasp into the ground. And felt not one bit of remorse!

No Surgery Required!

Yippee! The October surgery finally healed correctly. The surgeon is turning Mama over to a pain management specialist in his clinic... (Texas Spine & Joint Hospital in Tyler) ... There's just going to be a certain amount of pain because...her back is older than her. Dr. Danielson compares her to a classic car. ;o) On the last visit back in May ( http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-day.html), he looked at me and said, "Your mother is one tough lady."

If you remember, back then, I asked you to pray for a miracle. Thank you!

It was however, a looooooong day!

Monday I walked the three blocks from the office to the post office. I always do my walking errands in 'downtown' between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. That's when the food has been prepared at Blessings, the senior diner. It's prepared that early to be packaged and sent on its way for Meals on Wheels. Mama wants to get there while the food is hot and not held over an hour. So...I check for her car and if it's there, stop in for my hug. Monday, we made arrangements for Tuesday. I thought the x-ray appointment was 1:30 and the doctor's appointment at 2:30. She said that the appointments were 12:30 and 1:30.

Tuesday morning (after the gym and shower) I was at her house about 9:45. On the way to Tyler, she opened the appointment reminder letter. Guess what. We were going to be an hour early. ;o( I was correct. Once we got to Tyler, we found a restaurant at 11:30 and had a leisurely lunch at Cafe Ole. When we finished the fajitas that we shared, the waitress brought us over complimentary sherbets! So we lingered longer. Still got to the x-ray appointment early...but they got her in pretty quickly.

The doctor's appointment was another matter entirely. The nurse finally called her name at 5:30!!! If he wasn't such a great doctor/surgeon...AND caring!!! ... When he came into the examination room and apologized...I asked him if Mama was his last appointment. He said no, and he still had to go see his patients in the hospital section. (Great place to be!! Doctors' offices and hospital in the same building!) I told him that if she had been the last appointment that he would have to take us to dinner! LOL He looked a bit shocked for a moment then smiled and said that he'd have to take a van for all of us! LOL

We stopped at the Dairy Queen in Gilmer for a light snack. I finally got home about 8:15. Only 45 minutes shy of being gone for 12 hours!!!

Mama called just a few minutes ago. Her appointment with the pain management doctor is September 3. She said she slept fine and didn't feel any worse after yesterday's sitting and waiting and riding in the car!

Too Much Exercising!

I forgot to change the photo in my banner last month! June stayed up for two months and into August. August is there now. Here's the one you missed.I've taken off work tomorrow. Mama has an appointment in Tyler with her back surgeon. It breaks my heart that she may be facing yet another surgery.

I'll get up in the morning most likely at my regular time and go to the gym then come home and shower. We'll leave town about 9:30 or 10 a.m. We'll hit Tyler in time to have an early lunch. X-rays are scheduled for 12:30...the doctor's appointment follows in 30 minutes to an hour...I don't think she told me. But it doesn't matter...we'll sit and wait until they call her name.

The really good thing about my job...the directors are very lenient with time off for just about any reason. Next week I'm taking Thursday off. (Office is closed Fridays.) I'll be driving Tomball to a quilting retreat. Yeah! Of course it helps that one of the directors is a quilter too! She wants to see photos.