Local vendors thank me

I have been to Carl's Jr, Best Buy and Barnes & Nobles today in an effort to relieve myself since at times during the day, I don't have access to the bathroom.  It is at each of these said vendors that I don't feel any obligation to buy but find myself walking out with a little something something.  The diet coke at Carl's Jr., the $5.99 DVD at Best Buy and the home decorating magazine at Barnes & Noble.  Come Thurday night, I'll have nothing to blame but myself since my bathroom is scheduled to be done then.  Yipee... or is it?

The House, Volume 2

My husband was up to no good and started many a project on the house that was intended to start when I got back or intended to start...never. Ok, not never but not for a very long time.... So, the painting of almost the entire interior of the house is on day five and the totally gutted bathroom is still totally gutted.  The toilet was promptly reinstalled in a temporary fashion after the first night the wife came back into town.  The kitchen countertop is completely redone in a bright white tile...although can't be used until Friday!  The tile guy told me in jest that probably wouldn't be good until Christmas dinner.  What a nice man to try to get me out of making meals for four months!  Like that guy!  Truth be told that I am sooooo sick of eating out that when James and I went out to eat last night I had no appetite and nothing sounded good even though I was hungry.  Yesterday morning I had eight men working at the house at one time.  Eight!  It was alright since for the most part all had there own section of the house to do.  Today will be only four and there might be some collision since the living room is being painted which includes the front door and the only access to get to the bathroom!  I think I might suggest the kitchen after the family room because after that it is major collision  with only the hallway and two bedrooms which have to be painted.  What do you pass to get to those rooms?  The bathroom.  We must hope for the most perfect timing to occur.  Not our strong suit or particular blessing in life at this stage but we can always hope!

My nieces.. i love them so much.

I just got back on Saturday night from a week long trip to see my family in the OH.  It was a great trip filled with many hours of play with my nieces.  Pure bliss.  I love those little girls.  Here are some of the highlights:

Emma is 2 1/2 years old.  She is as bright and as cute as ever with all the attitude and defiance of authority that she genetically predisposed to being an O'Brien and a Druce.  She doesn't have a listening problem mind you.  She hears you just fine but proceeds otherwise and as she pleases.  My sisters constant battle is to nurture this trait while staying sane.  Not an easy feat but my sister does it with much grace, a good stern voice and many good "mom looks"...of which few of them work.  The ole pick up child and place in desired location is the name of the game which is greeted with not such a pleasant welcome by one such 2 1/2 year old.  Even I, the aunt who sees no wrong in her nieces, became a wee bit exasperated.  All is forgiven when Emma asks that "Aunt Zo-Zo" gives her a bath and when we had fun play times such as dump all the toys out on the floor, walk the baby and prepare many purses with things we need, swim in the froggie pool and many other countless type of play.  The girl is always on the go.  I identify with Emma in many ways none of which are stronger than identifying with her as the older sister.  The way she interacted with her younger sister Lilla ranged on a variety of levels.  From sitting on the little sister (personal favorite when I was about her age) or try to act like the little sister to make sure standing in family is secure.  Grammy Nana was always faithful to give "baby" Emma a bottle, wrap her in a blanket and rock her.  Emma also made she to regress into baby talk and crawling as well as suddenly not knowing how to crawl down the stairs and learning with her "little" sister Lilla how to do just that.  Emma would also be a little bit of a momma to her baby sister as well.  Mostly, Emma would just want to make sure she still had the same power as Lilla had and then toss Lilla around a bit for fun.  She'll have a good time with Lilla once Lilla (or YaYa as said by Emma) gets a bit older.  Seriously, the two words that melted my heart last week were "Aunt ZoZo".  Love it.

Lilla is 10 months old...going on 30!  Seriously.  This is Emma with a sprinkle of Dave's Insanity Sauce.  Bright, delightful and fun little girl who has a little of the Evil Knievel in her or as I called her "Kamakazi".  She lives life full throttle...all the time.  She is the most curious and busy little girl.  Emma is that too but Lilla just has this little sparkle in her eye that says "I'm trouble and I know it."  Yet she is the funniest, sweetest and most precious little thing ever.  I could hold her, squeeze her and give her kisses forever.  I love all the funny little faces she makes and just how stinking vivacious she is.  She is constantly following her big sister around.  She loves her big sister and just wants to be next to her anytime she can.  She is crawling a mile a minute to keep up with her sister.  Many times Emma acknowledges but other times Lilla just gets to the scene only to have to rechart her course in the next direction that Emma is moving.  I can't wait for Lilla to be able to really be where she wants to be in the right timing  and even to lead her big sister around for a change.  I thought this was so cute for Lilla to be so enamored with her sister but I also felt something tug at my heart.  I even tear up now thinking about it.  My wish for Lilla is to find her own path.  To be enamored with her older sister but also to be confident to strike out on her own.  I think she will just like my sister did.  My sister and Lilla both share that little twinkle that says I will make my own mark on the world...just you wait, big sister.

I didn't intend this post to dip into the deep and reflective, but flipping heck, I wish I could control these stinking emotions these days.  When I left Ohio this past Saturday, I burst out into tears (again!) when my best intentions were to stuff that it down until further notice.  I even verbalize that I was feeling sad earlier in the day to try to release it a bit.  No, totally burst into tears.  Crying in the car as my mom took me to the airport.  We said no words.  I think we were both feeling the same thing.  (Crap, I am doing it now too!)  We wish Ohio and Calfornia were somehow neighboring cities rather than flipping states on almost opposite ends of the coast.  Yet they aren't and a move to Ohio is a very future idea, all other present circumstances needing to be attended to.  And it just sucks.  I hate living far away from my family especially when times are tough and I need my sister and mom at times...and to love on those little nieces a bit more regularly would make all the difference in my world.

A successful day...

I deemed this morning a successful morning when I got up and could find the coffeemaker, coffee, a coffee mug and creamer as well as a change of clothes. The only bummer is that I couldn't find my supply of contacts. I really have to find those. All in all a day where I could function! We're still waiting on that painting quote so we can get the painting started and then our lives can be unpacked. I'm trying to figure out how to make this place a little bit more livable without entirely unpacking so that I'll have to pack all over again when painting finally does happen. That task for another day...

On another successful note, I found out you can rent wheelchair accessible vans much like renting a car. We'll do this in order to take the MIL home and on the occasional trips to the doctor until we know what our long term transportation needs will be. I made one inquiry to a home health care company and found it to be a little bit more expensive than we had planned. I'll call more in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow, James and I will be trained on feeding, etc. by the speech pathologist and physical therapy things like using the lift to get the MIL out of bed and generally how to help her maneuver a bit. She hasn't been feeling well in the last day or two. This morning I checked on her and she looked a bit more rested and her color was good again. I did wake her out of her beauty sleep so I quickly left so she could get some more.

This week as well we are going to see Wicked again! I'm so excited and I'm taking off for a week trip to Ohio on Saturday. I'm excited about that too and hopefully we'll get a calm week for the husband as he'll be navigating the continued flurry of renovations, care and preparations for the MIL coming home on his own. He is very supportive of me going to visit my family but a little weary of having to weather our little storm of life without his first mate. I'm leaving the laptop here so we can do a little video chatting while I am away.

Tonight, James and I are going to go to a movie. We are needing a little escapism as we are weekly confronted with a challenge related to care for the MIL. I'm not exaggerating. Weekly. Sometimes two or three in a week or even in a day. So, we take fun when we can.

Let's hope for tomorrow I can find my contacts and another outfit to wear.

My rough life...

Last night, James and I spent our last night in Pasadena. We are a wee bit sad but far too busy and with too much still to do to give anything but a passing thought. I spent the majority of the day cleaning up the apartment and packing up two car loads of remaining stuff. The second load is still in my car. I can't muster anymore energy to unload the car and frankly I have no idea where we are going to put it. Seriously. The garage is full and we have piles high to the ceiling of the stuff we already moved. I had the passing thought just to leave it in my car until some space avails itself. We are hoping to get the majority of the interior of the house painted starting this week and will continue to live in chaos mode until then. Frankly, it really doesn't seem that chaotic because we almost have one household to take care of instead of two. I'll take boxes for a week or two more...just give me one place to take care of, thank you very much. To be honest, I think the lure of our newly finished air conditioning has also stalled the long list of things to get done. I quite enjoy sitting underneath a vent that blows cold, refreshing air on me. I couldn't decide what would be more refreshing. A dip in the pool or a sit in a recliner positioned just below an air vent. I might just do both.

So, although my life in Pasadena is coming to a close and it'll just be a place that I work or that I visit friends, I can't complain too much about the life that is to come. I'd take back my MIL's stroke any day but for now I'll enjoy the pool, the AC and a newly renovated house...and the time to make the best life for my MIL and for my husband until the next journey avails itself.

What we've been up to...

Remodeling the house... packing... moving... that's what we've been up to and we are still a long way off to the finished product.... Some pictures for you... with special shots appearing my hot husband...The washer and dryer the husband bought me...


The AC unit we hope will begin working today... we love you, our AC unit.
Windows patched up in game room/bedrooms.... When the previous owners did the addition they skipped this step... Hot husband smiling at game room aka "man room" aka "his room"... One part of the house I let him have free reign...

Laminate floor in game room... We love you too laminate floor... The rear and lower half of hot husband...
Again, game room... with view of pool table (circa 1911) that is being refurbished...



The family room... newly carpeted... note our beloved couch... We love you most of all, couch.

I'm proud to say...

...that in my last quarter and my most hellacious quarter...

I got straight A's and passed my practicum.

Who says miracles don't happen? Just got to get a job now and we'll be good....