reflections in the mirror

My brother and I spent about 5 hours at the hospital today with my Dad. There has been little change in his condition and we have been told that we should not expect there to be to much improvement. We talked so that he could hear our voices and would know that we were there. When we had our ‘alone’ time with him, I told him about the kids and things that we were doing. It is difficult to see such a strong fighter…so helpless. We are going to make some major decisions in the next couple days. Hopefully we will be getting him into hospice care, and we will be dealing with things for when he is gone. I really feel so ‘alone’, my kids and husband are 6 hours away, so I cant deal with the issues that come up as I normally would, and emotionally I am exhausted. I have had headaches both days that I have been here, and the meds are barely keeping them under control. I am grateful to the nurses that are at the hospital with my dad, they are caring for my Dad and also for me. It seems that whenever they come in the room I am crying, they are there to comfort me as well. I am so grateful to them…

I will be going to the hospital about 11am tomorrow and will stay at least till my brother and step-mom can get there. I hope to be able to post again tomorrow…

Thank you all for the prayers and hugs…

Tags: cancer, hospice, Family, grieving

I arrived at the hospital in one piece, and got to spend a little time with my dad this evening. He was realy out of it, the pain meds were keeping him pretty sedated. The doctors are hoping to manage the pain and allow him more time where he can spend talking with us. The future does not look to great though, and at this point it is a wait and see type of thing. I will try to update this site on a fairly regular basis, if possible. Thank you all for the prayers and hugs.

I am not sure when I will be returning ‘home’ and how long I will be there when I do get to go home. For now, my time is not going to be spent primarily on the computer as it is at home, so I really cant say when I will get to update the site. Please check back though as I will update when I am able.

As for ‘blogging’, I think it is safe to say that I will not be able to rack up any credits, which I would need to keep the traffic flowing to the site, so I am not going to advertise for the ‘rent my blog’ on BE. I will resume that when things are more back to normal as well. I just cant see…saying that I am going to get people to see my site, when I am not sure I will have the credits to do so.

Well, everyone is turning in here, and we will be at the hospital early tomorrow, so I am going to turn in myself…(yikes it is only 12:15!) Night all and thank you again.

Tags: cancer, hospice, Family, grieving

My dad is in the hospital, and I am not sure how long he will be with us. I am not sure how long I will be gone or if I will be able to write while I am away. I appreciate everyone and thank you for your prayers in advance.

Tags: cancer, Family, blogging

Tags: cats, Photos

Well, it took a few days, but I did get the tree up, and I spent about 2 hours outside putting up the lights. I bought a remote controled switch, so I dont have to tempt Socks by opening the door in the middle of the night. One of the spiral trees had two sections out, one of the sections was easy to fix, but the other was not, which meant that I had to do light by light check. Out of 6 strands of lights only two were working. I am saving the ones that are out, for the bulbs…I dont see the point to buying replacement bulbs when I have a bunch at home. One section of the icicle lights is out as well, but I will check that if a few days, when it is warmer out. I also have another set of icicle lights that have never been used…just in case

I put the decorations on the tree as well. I am using the bead ornament decorations again this year. I figure it is safer than glass bulbs, especially with 2 new cats in the house. I dont know if either has ever experienced a ‘tree’ so it is better off this way.

I still have to put my ‘village’ up on the bookcase. But I will have to leave that for another day…

Tags: Christmas, Decorating, ornaments

A friend of mine posted this yesterday. It is a little late, but still funny.

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/promotion.asp?dir=aw&page=turkey

Turkeys will finish thawing Thanksgiving morning, then warm in the oven to a high near 190 in the afternoon. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or a cold shoulder. During the late afternoon and early evening hours, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey and cause it to accumulate 1-2 inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy. A weight watch has been issued for the entire area. We forecast intervals of indigestion, with increasing stuffiness around the beltways. During the evening the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers and drop to a low of 34 in the refrigerator. Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday: high pressure to eat sandwiches; flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50% chance of scattered soup during the midday hours. We expect a warming trend baste on where soup develops. For AccuTurkey, this is gobble-ologist Elliot Abrams

Tags: Thanksgiving, Turkey, Humor

Tag: Thanksgiving

…this is why I love cats!

Tags: cat, nap

I know, amazing that I can write about anything other than the cats. (I am sure there will be plenty to write about soon)

My daughter is studying American History, from the Pilgrims to the Revolutionary War, this year. So, they had a ‘colonial feast’ yesterday. The children got to pick recipes, which of course us parents got to prepare (with a little help from said child).

My daughter and I picked out the recipe together and I thought little about what we had picked, other than; I knew she didn’t care for it, and I knew how to cook it (or so I thought). We picked “Winter Squash” aka Acorn Squash. I have always cooked it the way my Mom cooked it (see I did learn something) but I had to follow the directions…(note to self, read the directions before agreeing to make something for the kids for school).

I have always cooked the Acorn Squash by cutting it in half, clean out the seeds, put it upside down in boiling water in the oven at 350 for 40-50 minutes, turn it over, put brown sugar, butter, a little salt and pepper and put back in the oven untill melted. Easy right? I know the directions by heart, as I make it a couple times a year.

The recipe from school was not as easy. First we had to wash and peel (not as easy as it sounds) the squash. Cut in half, and clean out the seeds, and cube. Place in layers in a pan, dotting each layer with butter and brown sugar, at the end add 1/4 cup of water and bake at 375 for 60 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking. It looks easy and if Acorn Squash came with no skin, it would have been. It took us about 20 minutes to peel the squash, the rest was pretty easy…and tasted good, but I can get the same result by cutting the squash in half and making it my way.

The other part of their ‘project’ was to wear appropriate garb to the school yesterday. So I gave my daughter a dress that I had made for myself when she was little, she had a shawl, but…we also needed a bonnet. I spent Sunday making bonnets. After hunting down an appropiate pattern and making one, we discovered that it was to small for her head. So I made the needed alterations and created a second bonnet. It came out pretty good too. I understand that the day went well, the food was good, and the kids were able to get a ‘taste’ of colonial cooking.

So, when my daughter came home, I wanted to take a picture of my daughter dressed up…

She forgot the bonnet at school…that is a picture that I will have to take another time…

Tags: Thanksgiving, Education, School, Family

I think Socks wrote about the ‘new addition’ so I will copy it from his site.

I am not sure what Mom was thinking today, she brought home another cat!

She keeps calling her Abby, I think that is her name. We met, sniffed, and I am reserving judgement for now. She seems alright, but she seems a little shy to me. Mom spent some of the afternoon trying to get ‘abby’ out from under her bed. The rest of the day she played with me. She kept telling me that she loves me…I think I believe her, but I am being just a little stand-offish, just to make her feel guilty. Anyways, here is ‘abby’…






Top hat and Tails

So there it is. Ms Abby was in the veterinary hospital since this past spring. Her history is a little sketchy, but it is my understanding that she was caught in the eaves of a building, brought to the shelter, she was pregnant, and scared. She gave birth to very healthy kittens and didnt pass the FIV onto them. The kittens were all adopted out to one family! But poor Abby sat in the shelter and then the hospital for a long time. She is a very freightened kitty, who has spent most of her time trying to melt into the back of a cabinet in one of my bathrooms. I have had her out for little TLC, and she seems fine when she is being held. It is going to take sometime for her to ‘warm up’. There is a wonderful lady, who I will call ‘D.’, along with several other caring people, who helped. I know that D. is very happy that I have brought her home. She was asked several times when she was going to have the “FIV Momma Cat” euthanized. I am very happy that she held out so long. Abby will be happy, she needs some time to adjust and I am sure Socks will be fine to. At this point Socks has ’sniffed’ but hasn’t decided either way, whether he likes his new companion or not.

Please, for the sake of many, many wonderful cats, if you find out one day, that your cat is FIV+, remember that your cat does have a disease, but with proper care and diet…they can and do live long happy lives. Don’t let someone tell you that your friend needs to be put to sleep, because, unless they are suffering, they don’t.

(Thanks D. and all the others who have brought Abby home to me.)

Tags: cat, FIV, animal adoption, blog