It Doesn't Take Much - 11/27/07

It doesn't take much to make me happy sometimes. Today when I went to pick up my Granddaughter from school the odometer in my car read 77,776 so I drove around the parking lot of the high school until the odometer ticked over that one extra mile so I could take a picture. I've been waiting for the all sevens.

I ended up having to cook Thanksgiving dinner because my Brother's family got their annual Thanksgiving bout of the flu. I had planned ahead for just such a contingency and had a 4 pound turkey breast in the freezer. My kids and my Granddaughter were here for dinner as was my Mom and we still had leftovers. It could be because I had other things to eat as well (big understatement there).

I took my Mom back home on Saturday and her cat had taken a dump on her down comforter again (twice while she was gone) and also peed on it too. (Note to self: I don't think I want a cat anymore.) The comforter had just come back from the dry cleaner the weekend before. Apparently when kitty gets angry at the humans that is her new avenue for venting her feelings. I had told my Mom to be sure to shut her bedroom door before she left. She pushed it closed, but didn't latch it. I so wanted to scream and bang my head against the wall but I didn't. So I spot cleaned the darn comforter and will haul it to the dry cleaners in the morning. I think the cat is upset because my sister-in-law has been gone every weekend for the last month helping to clean out her Mom's apartment. Her Mom just went into assisted living. Anyone know a Cat Whisperer who can tell this feline to CUT IT OUT?

I put the Christmas tree up over the weekend which is very early for me. I wanted to make sure Warren would be able to enjoy it plus it does cheer the place up with the lights.

The social worker at NIH called me today to tell me that she'd submitted the paperwork to hospice but they needed a referral from a Maryland licensed doctor (apparently the Federal doctors we've been seeing at NIH are licensed in different states) so she gave hospice the information for our outside ENT/surgeon. We just love him anyway. He is so caring. I called his office this afternoon to let him know that hospice would be calling him for a referral and he said he'd take care of it. I know he was disappointed to hear that we were at that stage now. The social worker told me we should have something in place by the end of the week and that hospice should call us tomorrow.

I haven't had much interest in writing in the blogs lately and I'm not sure how much of it I'll do in the short term.

As if there wasn't enough going on here, the washing machine leaked a little water when I used it over the weekend and when I called to get an appointment to have it fixed, the earliest they could give me is December 5th. Warren said I could buy a new washer and get it installed sooner (he knows I hate the one we have), but its only 4 years old and that would seem the ultimate in waste to have it hauled away. I think I will just use the machine (or try too) and keep the wet vac handy just in case the leak develops into a river.

My Mother just called. She'd been to the cardiologist yesterday to get a heart monitor which she wore for 24 hours. She'd been complaining that her heart had been skipping beats. She was saying last night when I talked to her that it hadn't skipped any while she had the monitor on. Apparently she was wrong. Her doctor just called back and said her heart had stopped 26 times in the time she had the monitor on for sometimes 3 seconds or more at a time. He said if she didn't feel those, then the times she does feel it must be bad. He wants her to consult a specialist ASAP to see about getting a pacemaker. She told me over Thanksgiving that maybe she was ready to go home too and I told her I would prefer it if she and Warren wouldn't both do it at the same time.

If I say uncle will it stop?