What Has Been Happening

Oh so much but yet......so little.

Since I last wrote, we've had quite a few things go down.

1) Judd's Grandfather went to the ER one Saturday night. Grandma called here, at the house, while my husband was at work. Saying Grandpa was hurting awful and throwing up. So I headed over there, expecting the worst, to find Grandpa sitting in his chair, looking just fine. But, after some questioning and observing, I thought something wasn't right. When he suddenly had to go to the bathroom to vomit, again, my Mother in Law, Grandma and I decided a call to 911 was necessary. And, I volunteered to make the call only AFTER getting verbal consent from everyone involved as I was NOT going down for this. ( Grandpa was insisting he was fine and "didn't want anyone to fuss".)  I go out in the dark, overheated garage and whisper Grandpa's symptoms to the 911 operator, who thought I was insane.  Long story short (er), fire trucks pull up, Grandpa glares at me but, when the EMTS asked of his pain level, 10 being worst pain ever, he said 8 or 9, I was glad I called. After tests at ER, it is determined that Grandpa, age 86, has a very large kidney stone, 1cm in diameter, which is really big.  He required surgery and ended up in the hospital for almost 2 wks.  It was really quite the ordeal.  Lots of trips back and forth as we soon discovered that someone needed to be in the hospital room when the doctors came in, to save a lot of confusion. He needed a stent put into his bladder but previously had a stent put in his heart years ago, so when Grandma heard "stent" she told them he already had one and it just went downhill from there. I could go on and on about family drama and the stress of it all but in the end, Grandpa is doing great and we hope to not repeat any of it.

2) My beautiful lady I wrote about here passed away, shortly after I posted that story.  Thankfully, she did not "suffer" long and I was able to say good-bye.  I was reminded of how I was there the day she moved in, showed her to her room, explained the call system and walked her to dinner that first evening. She lived there quite awhile and the whole building grieved at her passing.  Her room was filled in less than a week and I will be honest, it's hard not to hold a grudge against the new resident. And, not just this time.  I can go through the entire building and tell you who has lived in each room, as most are not "original " occupants. I still think of room #339 as Dwight and Joan's even tho they haven't lived there for years.  Life does go on. 

3) I took  my oldest and his friends sandboarding again. You can read here how that went down last year. This year, there were no arguments on A) me driving them again and B) no swimming!! 
Once again, I sat around, read my book, had lunch and just relaxed while they went up and down the dunes. Derek was kind enough to bring Titus a life jacket:

What you may not notice, this is a child's life jacket on anything but a child.

 Titus wore it into McDonalds when we stopped for breakfast. You just never know when tragedy will strike.
I want to take a moment and say I enjoy hanging out with my kids and their friends. Not many people can say that.  Oh, to be young again: 

My kid is the whitest. Also, he is NOT totally nude behind the board. It wasn't that kind of trip. 

4) My next "tidbit" is not so much of a happening as, well, a tidbit.  I've told you a few stories of the residents at my job. But, I haven't told you about all of them. 

Baxter

Willow

Two of the fattest cats I ever have seen.  Willow is somewhat friendly but doesn't move much (shocker) but Baxter is an entirely different story.   His "mom" leaves her room door open for Baxter to visit and roam the hallways.  I wish with all my heart I could capture on video for you what happens when I round the corner, see him down yonder and say "Baxter!! Bubba!! I missed you" and watch him RUN at me. If you've never seen a 20+lb cat run at you, you haven't lived.  After the initial love fest, where he rubs against my black pants and I pet him, rub his belly, tell him he's a good boy, he then proceeds to "hide" behind things as I work my way down the hall, room to room. I come out, and he's there but he's invisible.

Hiding behind a chair and plant. If he doesn't make eye contact, I don't see him. 

This continues all night until I get to "his" room. I announce "It's bed time Baxter, let's go!" and off he goes, into his room, I close the door and put he and his "mom" to bed.  Sometimes, he behaves and lets me pull back the bedding before climbing in,other times, he is rude and lays smack dab in the middle. You may wonder why Baxter is so large. It may be that his diet consists of chicken nuggets, cheese and other table scraps.  I will never forget when his "mom" asked me to wheel her down to the front desk so she could ask the maintenance man to come up to her room and make Baxter a harness so she could walk him. Matt looked at me, I looked at Matt.  He finally told her, very nicely, that was beyond his job description.


Never boring, folks, never boring.