This has been a roller coaster day. I am exhausted and my nose is all plugged up from the badness of it. Don't worry. The goodness of it has since far outweighed the badness. Isn't that wonderful?

Started off with Chelsea waking me up at 4AM again. I am afraid a habit has been established, but am too tired to try to work it out. I just take her out, give her a treat and go back to bed until 6AM when I HAVE to get up. It was, at least this was better, 28 degrees at 4AM so was tolerable.

I got up at 6AM, as I said. Chelsea and I had breakfast, I took a shower, vacuumed the bedrooms and the wood shavings out of the hall and then I went over to the Center to be with Dick before the Condo meeting.

This is where things really got goofy.

Dick and I went down a bit before 10 for the meeting. I had my vote and two proxies for the business end of this meeting. If you are not aware, this is the meeting that was presenting my request to change the by laws to allow two pets maximum for each unit instead of one. I was really planning on having my kitties back.

The meeting went quite well up until that issue. We do have an increase in our monthly fees, not surprising, there had been no change since 2004 and frankly, we were paying what we paid at Creekside over 10 years ago. I can't see that this is a big thing. We don't want to be dipping into the reserves for sure.

Then the vote for the by law change came. I stated my case. Then there was discussion. One woman said - there are 120 units, what if every unit decides to get two dogs, we will have 240 dogs. Another complained about the farm cats that are running loose and a third complained about people not picking up dog doo at the end of the cul de sac's in the wet lands. (Many of them are not people from the condos.) But it was enough. The by law change was voted down and I started to lose it and Dick and I had to get out of there. Several people, including board members followed us and told us to just get the cat. I told them that Dick wouldn't let me. He is too honest. I just had to leave. I really melted down. It is, in retrospect, a small thing but I couldn't take any more. I felt like Popeye. "I stood all I can, I can't stood no more." I took Dick upstairs and headed home to grieve. Dick and I had decided that we would move as soon as economically possible.

Then after I had been home about an hour, Dick called. He had gone downstairs to find out what the vote actually had been and MaryAnn Bernauer told him that they had had a special motion which passed to allow us to bring our kitty home. I am a wreck but getting ready.

There is supposed to be sleet and rain for the next 24 to 36 hours. I am going to get the room ready for the litterbox and all. Monday I have bible study and a Cream City Writer's Christmas Party. So Bobbie and I decided that Tuesday would be good. I can spend all day with them to get them reacclimated to me. After two years, I can wait two days. I really feel mean taking her away from Bobbie and Bill, but Bobbie assures me that as much as she loves them she knew from the beginning that it was only until we could have her.

This afternoon, Bobbie and I brought Dick's computer home. We hooked everything we know about up and everything is working - except the internet. I will look at it closer tomorrow. I wish I knew more. I will try to compare my tower with Dick's tower and see what is missing.

I am glad that I have no plans for tomorrow. I am spent. If it is not too slippery, I WILL go to see my sweetheart sometime during the day.

Love

Mary

This has been a VERY cold day. When Chelsea woke me up at 4:30AM it was 4 degrees and never got over 9 that I was aware of. It will warm up over the weekend and even rain. I am not sure that is a good thing either but it will bring down the snow banks.

Dick had his appointment with Dr. Moreno this morning and for a change we have good news. The wounds are healing, albeit slowly. He is pleased with the way they look and feels that this is the opportune window to try a skin graft on the deeper of the two. SO - we have scheduled that procedure for next Thursday. Another day for everybody to be praying like crazy. This will mean a delay in the second fitting of the prosthesis as he will have to be non weight bearing on that right foot for two weeks but if the foot is healed, that is a small price to pay. So next week will be another adventure.

Bobbie and Bill came over at about 1:30PM and we went to the Old World Market at the Osthoff (they used to call it Kristkindlemart.) It was very pleasant. We walked around to all the booths, sampled the cheeses and wines and candies, bought a few things and then came back to our house. Bill started the changing of the hinges to make the door to the bathroom swing out instead of in. Just another step in making things easy for Dick when he comes home.

I went back to the Center at about 5 with some of my chicken soup to have supper with Dick. I came home at about 7 and am slowly settling down for the night.

Next week was looking rather quiet but now is full of lots of things. Can you believe that the week after next is Christmas ALREADY. I am down to one present. Actually, I thougth I had them all but cannot find a confirmation on one of them. SO I must take care of that tomorrow.

Be safe and happy.

Love

Mary

Another busy day. I got up at 6 as usual despite having gone to bed at 12:30AM because the play lasted SO long. Long but worth it. Today was busy enough that I have not felt the tired too much but I know I will really sleep tonight.

We had our care meeting at the Plymouth Care Center today. I think it was quite successful. Therapy is going to concentrate on transfers - bathroom and car in the next two weeks. We are really aiming for getting him home for Christmas. He is stable on all dangerous things, like the diabetes and his heart. And the fact that he has lost so much weight, a good hunk of it fluids is a very good thing too.

We have tentatively scheduled a home evaluation for December 23 and his prosthesis will be back on December 22. We thought that the prosthesis was going to be ready next week but maybe it is better to have the extra week so the abrasions can really heal and we can keep stimulating healing with massage and Vitamin E.

Anyway, that was the exciting news of the day. I came home for lunch "with Chelsea" and did a bit of cleaning while I was here. Then went back to have supper with Dick and just be with him for part of the evening.

Now I am home and winding down very fast. Bed at 9PM on the dot is the goal. Tomorrow we see Dr. Moreno. The nurses are telling us that the wound looks better now. Not so deep. I hope they are right.

I am going to share a funny joke from the Reader's Digest.

Even though she's been teaching English for 25 years, my mother never felt her age was an issue, until the day she helped a student with a report on the Vietnam War. Mom recognized the name of a war correspondent mentioned in the textbook and blurted, "I used to go out with him!"

Peering up from his work, another wide-eyed student asked, "You dated someone from our history book?"

That reminds me of my Mother. I remember that she never minded any age she reached, but when she turned 70, she said that it sounded old. (I am less than two years from that now.) Then when she turned eighty, Aunt Kathleen said that she asked Mother how it felt to be an octogenarian and Mother did not find it very amusing. Now she is 92 and just seems to be enjoying herself at whatever pace she can. We sure did have a lovely time at The King and I.

Hope you have a good Friday.

Love

Mary

No snow today. Good thing, we seemed to be still digging out from yesterday.

No walks for Chelsea and me. It is way to cold and way to slippery.

I went grocery shopping and to the bank this morning fairly early. I intended to go right over to see Dick but got a call from my friend, Gail McAleese, she and her husband Tom drove up from Milwaukee to pick up a box of mailings that needed to go out for Celtic Women and had been accidently left behind on Saturday.

So - I got over to the Center at about 11AM. Dick was in therapy so I waited for him there and then we went up to his new room. Yes, Indeed, He is all moved. His new room number is 404 it is just three doors down from the elevator - turn left instead of right when you get off. He is right next to Adelle, a darling gal, who told me that she has been there and in that same room for 11 years. She has a marvelous sense of humor and told me that I had better watch out because Dick is a very handsome man and many of the staff and patients have their eyes on him. Isn't that sweet. (She is probably right.)

We had dinner (the noon meal) together. I stayed until about 3PM then headed home to take care of Chelsea and get ready for the evening.

This was the big dinner/theatre evening for me and Mother. I got to her house at 5PM in case I had to do some shoveling of her ramp. But her wonderful neighbor had cleared it for her. Randy usually does it BUT he is on a business trip to St. Louis until Thursday. She and I went to Richards for dinner. I had steak and she had a fish platter. Then we went to Horace Mann Theatre and met Bobbie to see a really wonderful production of The King and I. Ralph outdid himself this time. He got some real talent and they performed their hearts out. I loved the King and the Uncle Thomas segment.

Now I am home and Chelsea is very irritated with me because I am spending her valuable sleep time posting to this blog so I will sign off now and go to bed. It is way to late for me anyway.

Love

Mary

I pretty much stayed home today because of all the snow. It finally stopped shortly after noon and they came and plowed us out by three. Then the wind started blowing and I figured that I had better take a quick run over to see Dick for just a few minutes and take him some clean shirts. I needed to be with him for just a little bit.

I got a LOT of little things done. I finished decorating and made some soup and wrote a couple of letters. Maybe I will even get around to doing Christmas Cards this week.

I read about a poor old dog that got left outside and its poor but froze to the sidewalk. Fortunately it was a really obese dog and after they used warm water to get it off the sidewalk, the Humane Society says he will be OK. They had a lot of advice about how to treat animals in the cold weather, one of them being to bang on your car hood to be sure that cats who sometimes will crawl onto warm engine blocks don't get hurt when the engine goes on by the fan and all.

It reminded me of my Sam cat. We had a beautiful black cat that we named Samantha. She was a really elegant cat and was well known throughout the California neighborhood we lived in. In those days, at least where we lived, cats roamed pretty much free, though Sam usually slept in the house.

One day I drove the truck and camper over to a local mini mart to pick up something. When I opened the camper door to put the purchase in, Sam shot out of the camper and took off. We were only four blocks or so from home, so after looking around and calling for a bit, I headed home figuring that she would probably beat me there.

She did not. We looked for her but could not find her and after a couple of weeks, I figured that she was gone forever. Then, one morning, I thought heard her and opened the kitchen door. There she was. She walked into the kitchen with her left side towards me and I could see that she was extremely thin. I immediately called John, a neighbor across the street to tell him that she was back. (John used to bring her fresh chopped liver from a restaurant that he worked at.) Then she turned around and to my horror, there was a scar about an inch wide that ran down her entire right side. So I bundled her up and ran her over to the vet. At first he was kind of suspicious of abuse but when I told him what had happened, he examined her and said that she must have gotten caught by a fan or fan belt under a car and crawled off and holed up until she was strong enough to come home. All he could do, as the scar was clean and healing was give me some salve to put on it. You know that scar healed so well that there was no sign of it after a while.

She was a beautiful cat.

Love

Mary

The snow has begun. It is supposed to snow through tomorrow afternoon. We could get up to 12 inches. Actually I don't expect as much as that here but it will be a pretty good snow.

This morning I went to visit Mother BEFORE Bible Study as I had to be back in Plymouth to pick up Jena to take her to the Sheboygan County Writer's Club Christmas party at the Villager. I ended up having to leave at 12:30 because Tim from Sheboygan Prosthesis brought Dick his first prosthesis this afternoon at 1PM.

I had plenty of time to eat and listen as we went around and each told what we had done to prepare for or how we are going to celebrate. Then Sylvia said that she would take Jena home, so I did not have to haul her off before the gift exchange and door prize drawing. I called her this evening to make sure that she was, indeed, home safe and sound. She was and told me that I won a door prize which she has along with my present. Our Jena works at the Pig and I will be in there on Wednesday shopping so she can give me my "loot" then or, if she forgets, next Monday when we do the Cream City Writer's party at Antoinette's here in Plymouth.

I got to the Center just on time to meet when the leg arrived. We went down and Tim, after some explanation, put the leg onto the stump and he stood up. He has some discomfort on the shin, which is normal. Adjustments can be made to alleviate that, time will build up a resistance AND he has to practice really standing tall and not leaning forward. Tim did several adjustments, having him stand after each. However, a kind of abrasion happened on the scar area and two small blisters developed just in the four times he stood. SO, he took the leg back and will do some other important adjustments. He will be back in a week and we will try again. This will give the stump a chance to heal and we need to keep massaging it to help it toughen up.

Dick told his nurse that he was thinking of having his meals all in his room because he is so far from the dining room and his arms get SO tired and sore pushing himself all hat way. There are some rooms empty in hallway four which is the hall that has his dining room. The room he could have is only four doors from the elevator. It will be somewhat noisier and has a fire door which has to be either open or closed but not ajar BUT is closer and he likes that. He will be right next door to Pearl who says that she has been there in the same room for eleven years and she loves it. It has a nice view too of the flagpoles, trees and he will be able to look down on the parking lot if he wishes. It is room 404. I will let you know for sure tomorrow . He will probably move tomorrow.

I brought Chili and Guy Pie tonight and we had dinner in his room. The chili is still great and mellowing nicely.

I came home shortly after we ate after helping him with the things that I help him with. I was home shortly after 6PM and if we have the snow they promised may be here until Wednesday. I am supposed to go for a mamagram tomorrow morning at 8:30. We'll see if I can get out.

Barbara had some surgery today. I called and left a message that I would call tomorrow when she felt a bit stronger but she called me back. She had that surgery to remove excess skin after weight loss and said she feels good as long as she lays still. Pray that she heals quickly. She is a dear girl and I hate to think of her hurting.

Bible Study was nice today. There were eight of us . I Especially liked the second reading. It was from Paul's 2nd letter to the Thessalonians Chapter 5:16-24. It is a wonderful map for living starting with "Rejoice Always!" I like that a lot.

Love

Mary

Cold has really settled in to our corner of the world. It was supposed to get up to 20 degrees but the warmest that I saw was only 15.

It is about that now but I am sure it will be dropping. We didn't get any more snow, at least until tonight. When I took Chelsea out a few minutes ago there was a thin covering all over everything. At least it will cover the gray and black.

We are supposed to have a big winter storm tomorrow evening and Tuesday, up to a foot of snow. Winter is coming in with a vengeance.

I stayed home most of the day and mainly rested. I could use even more, I think. But did get two naps. The second was rather short because that goofy Chelsea was a real pest this afternoon and woke me up when I had only been asleep for about a half an hour.

I went to the 10:45AM Mass and then to the Plymouth Care Center where Dick and I had Dinner together. I stayed long enough to take care of the things we like to do together, and then came home again. It was nice to just be home. Now is Dick was here it would be perfect.

I ate leftovers for supper and now am winding down for the night. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Bible Study, visiting Mother, going to a Christmas lunch AND Dick will be getting his prosthesis at 5.


We decided that I will be bringing supper and we will eat in his room. He will finally get some of that great Chili that I made for the guys on Friday.

Hope you all have a great week. Perhaps we can too.

Love

Mary

What do you think of that wonderful ramp? It is wonderful. Chelsea is still confused. She keeps trying to go down to where the steps were. For those who might not know. From left to right. The archetects - Bill May, my son in law, Jeff and Randy, my brothers and Shane, Jeff's son, my nephew.

They were wonderful and the ramp is perfect, ready for Dick to come home


Love

Mary