As I mentioned on my mid week post, Thursday I woke up and felt so much lighter than Wednesday. Of course it was nice with the sun coming up. I was able to take a walk and shake off the cobwebs of Wednesday. I was also able to think through some of the swirling thoughts that were in my head - always a good thing. Thank you to those that called or wrote to check on me.
The rest of the week went really well. My mom had a fantastic week where every day she appeared stronger and more aware. My father is ecstatic of this where I am the pessimist waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am remaining hopeful that she will maintain her status for a while and that the medicine has helped her level off. Her appetite also returned which helped with her medications. She actually told the volunteers the other day how she received her name of mema. She also cooperated with her exercises which help her maintain some mobility. I really like her physical therapist a very vibrant woman named Nancy. She talks to my mother every time she sees her and gets my mom to laugh and joke a bit. I love it! I am seeing first hand how one thing impacts the other with health and in life.
Of course lots of paperwork to be done for insurance purposes. I was surprised at how quickly the insurance system got back to me to request missing paperwork. They even provided a point of contact. From my discussions with friends that have had to go through this process I expected a black hole or months of hearing nothing. I am sure my mother's case was reviewed so quickly because the hospital submitted the paperwork directly. The hospital has a person that directly liaisons with the state and insurance carriers and has been extremely helpful about reviewing the paperwork before it's submitted. I knew initially I was not submitting every bit of paperwork, but the liaison suggested submitting what I had and the state would tell me what they needed. Within a week I had a list of paperwork needed and due date.
Had a fun day with my niece. She stayed over Thursday night and had no idea the surprise I had planned for her on Friday. My niece has wanted to ombre her hair -she sent me pictures weeks ago of what she wanted. I even watched videos with her of how to do it at home. I am extremely skeptical about doing anything to someone's hair so I arranged to have it done at the hairdresser. At first when she found out she kept saying I don't want to go to a salon, you can do it for me at home. I said no way, if you want it done you have to have it done the right way. Well my niece has long, thick hair (if only I had half of her hair) and the hairdresser took her time and did an excellent job! We were at the hairdresser for 3.5 hours. I love how it turned out and my niece was thrilled. I think my niece was surprised at how many people were involved in the surprise as well. (picture below of hair -
My sister and family came for dinner yesterday. Tried a new simple crock pot recipe and my dad cooked up veggies for side dishes. We got home from the hospital and grocery store and my dad immediately started chopping/peeling/cooking. He immediately put everything in pots/pans and turned them all on. As my sister texted me to say they were on their way, dad told me everything was ready. I said well they just left the house. He said ok they'll arrive in 40 minutes. Do you think my dad has a timing issue? Now I realize why I am so obsessed with time and being on time. Well of course the veggies were a bit soggy, by everything tasted good. The crock pot recipe: 3 pounds kielbasa, 1 - 16 ounce package of brown sugar, 1 can drained pineapple chunks, 1 can beer (any type I think). Throw in crock pot and cook for hours. It's sweet, but good!
My oldest nephew Shamus spent the night Saturday night. When he was a young boy, he would spend sleepovers at my parents. I think he loved the quiet and of course the one-on-one attention. He said he wanted to stay and my dad was thrilled. He helped me put a TV stand together that my dad has had sitting in the sun room for months. My dad asked me the other day when I was going to put it together? I just looked at him and he said you told me you would put it together. I thought, but did not say out loud: when did I say that? Instead I said before I go home it will be put together. Shamus was kind enough last night to work with me and we had it together within 2 hours. We talked and caught up on our lives. He enjoyed a nice relaxing evening, had breakfast out with us this morning and got a visit in with his mema.
My dad and I just returned from a fabulous lunch. We went to the Little Red Smokehouse. He had babyback ribs and baked macaroni and cheese (wonderful). I had the appetizer portion of cranberry chicken wings. This appetizer was HUGE (enough for another meal) and DELICIOUS! This local restaurant is definitely on my list of places to go again. Have you noticed in my blogs since I've been in Plymouth is that all I seem to do is eat! Already planning a big meal with the family before Shamus leaves next weekend. (picture below of wings)
I finished reading "Breaking Her Fall" by Stephen Goodwin this past week. Interesting story about a young girl and what happens to her after a night of drinking, but also her father and what he does in a moment of blind rage. The dynamics of family and repercussions of a moment are all involved in the story.
I have a little funny story this week. I have been opening my parents mail for the past couple of weeks and so far they have received 23 wall calendars for 2015 and 2 desk type calendars for 2015. I think every charity in the country has my parents names on their mailing lists. I thought to myself when will these calendars stop coming? I think my parents gave every time an envelope arrived without realizing they had already given to the charity. That little game is stopping now. I have been contacting charities to say take their names off the list the gravy train has stopped. Don't worry my parents will continue to give to charity, but enough is enough. You may think I'm terrible to stop the over giving, but it has to stop at some point.
I am going to end it here for today. I hope you have a wonderful week. Take care. Chat soon. Marie
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"Love is the great transformer, turning ambition into aspiration, selfishness into service, greed into gratitude, getting into giving and demands into dedication." unattributed
}You must act in your friends' interests whether it pleases them or not; the object of love is to serve, not to win." Woodrow Wilson