Christmas is officially over at my house now!!! We had my side of the family over on Saturday. Mom's chicken and noodles were delicioius........and she made lemon meringue pie.......my favorite.......YUMMMMMMMMmmmmmm!!!!!!

My brother came really late......opened presents with us.......laid down and took a nap......then left!! So we didn't get into the discussion about his new girlfriend. It was a good thing.......she's into drugs and he's trying to get off of drugs so in my opinion it's NOT a good combination. I did talk to my neice, Natasha, and she knows all about it. According to Tash they are going to help each other get off of drugs......we'll see.......I don't believe it will happen.

Anyway.....the party went well. I got to play with my two neices kids and they were so adorable.....and of course, we had our little cutie, Dean!! By the way......Dean is taking a lot of steps on his own!!! He's so cute tottling around!!!

I'm so looking forward to January......it's my "do what I want to" month!!! I usally consider doing my crafts or something like that......but I think that I might start taking the border down in Jaci's room and get it ready to be painted. I REALLY don't like the color of purple that's in there!!

What a busy day - I am worn out! I met my daughter, mom and granddaughters for breakfast, then I took mom to the doctor. After that I ran some errands, and then my daughter and I checked out an assisted living facility for my mom. We've come to the conclusion that it is not practical for her to live with either me or my daughter after they move to Houston, since mom cannot stay alone, who will stay with her when we travel?? Right now, I stay over there (5 minute drive from my house), but Houston is 3 1/2 hours away, and I can't just drop everything and drive over there, and visa versa, my daughter can't come to Austin when we need to be out of town. There is a real nice assisted living facilty across the street from where mom goes to church. She already knows some of the residents who attend church. Brooke and I toured the facility today and it is REALLY NICE. Mom, Brooke and I will eat lunch there on Thursday and mom will take a tour. I think she will like it. I hope so at least. I know she'd rather be with Brooke or me, but it just isn't practical with us living in Austin and Houston.

Tomorrow Gary's aunt and uncle come for 2 days. WHEW! I have a lot to do!

Are you looking for assisted living in Houston. I used to work at two places here in houston. There were both great. My sis worked at one and it might look ok but I would never enter that one.

And today I didn't do anything but lay around.

You guys have all been so busy! I had last week off work and I relaxed as much as I could! Scott's friend was back in the city from Vancouver so Scott drove in to visit him a few times. We also came in a couple of times together to do some shopping and play cards with my grandma and uncle. We got our Christmas tree and inside decorations taken down and put away, and even found time to go snowboarding for a day! Any spare time in between, we relaxed!

Our office actually opened again yesterday, but I took an extra day off. I don't know why, but on Sunday night I just couldn't sleep. I would turn my lamp on and read until I felt tired, then I'd try to sleep again but my mind would race! So I'd try it again... and eventually I went downstairs to work on a puzzle for 2 hours. I finally fell asleep around 5:30 a.m. so when I needed to get up at 6 to be ready for work, I just couldn't do it. We got up at 8:00 and went to the city for blood tests and some shopping, then came home and played Wii for the day :) Scott wouldn't let me fall asleep during the day so I had no trouble falling asleep last night.

We also tried to book our Europe trip through Scott's travel agent yesterday, but when she called the tour company, they were closed. She'll try again tomorrow because she's off work today. Finally we'll have some concrete plans!

We are looking at assisted living in Austin. But we may have to move her to Houston since my daughter hasmore time than me. I will certainly give u a holler if we have to look in Houston. I'm familiar with assisted living facilities in Austin but not Houston.

Our aunt and uncle will be arriving in a few minutes from Oklahoma on their way to spend the winter in South Padre Island. They are pulling a fifth wheel trailer and will park on our long RV pad beside the house. I sure hope my uncle doesn't hit the house! :eek: Gary didn't hit it with our trailer, so I'm sure he won't, but still.........

They will be here till Thursday. I have a roast, potatoes, carrots, and onions in the oven for dinner this evening. I will make beef stew out of the leftovers for tomorrow. I think the house is in pretty good shape. The only problem is that there is that a heavy mist coming down right now, so someone (Gary :p) will get damp guiding him into the RV pad.

Gayle, it will probably be in your Mom's best interest to put her in assisted living. She'll get good 24 hour care and there'll be others there to visit with.

Glen's Mom is getting to that place, in my opinion. She's still living at home but only because the boys are over there constantly to help her out. She can no longer get herself a meal and can barely get to the bathroom.......a lot of times she waits too long to go. Glen goes over every night to get her in bed and everything set for the night......another brother gets her up and makes sure she has breakfast and what she needs for the day nearby. I'm hoping that since the holidays are over that they'll make a decision to put her in a nursing home.......she's not well enough for assisted living. We'll see what happens.

Lindsey, it sounds like you had fun!!!

Gayle, have fun with your Aunt and Uncle!! I'm sure that they enjoy visiting with you for a couple of days!!! Supper sounds really good!! Yummmm.......

I had Dean today. The ornery little guy is into everything!!!! He pulled out some of my recipe books and had them all over the floor.......then later he cleaned almost everything out of the diaper bag!!! The other day he emptied my rag drawer!! It was so cute......he was just throwing them over his head!!! Oh.....and he's walking now!! It just a few steps here and there but he's really starting to go places!!!

Yesterday Jaci came and spent quite a bit of the day with me. She has times that she doesn't feel good but it's hard to tell if she's really sick or not. When she did that while she was home I'd finally send her to school and tell her to come home if she got worse.......well, she's doing that now at home. I'm not sure what it is exactly........maybe a little too much time on her hands so she worries about herself. I recommended some headache stuff so we'll see if anything helps. It ended up that Nate had said some mean things about her not being really sick so she was upset with him. I need to check and see how she's doing today.

My little adopted granddaughter, Lexi, and her Mom came over yesterday and got Lexi's Christmas gifts. She was so cute and she knows Jaci really well so it didn't take too long before she was chasing Jaci and laughing!!! She is such a doll!!!

Yes Diana, mom will do much better in assisted living. She's not a real social person, so it will be a bit hard for her, but it will be better. She will be able to go visit my daughter for a week or two at a time and see her great granddaughters and everyone will enjoy each other alot. Right now, they pretty much get on each other's nerves. She wouldn't have anything to do at all if she lived with us. I'm gone all day to work, and then I'm tired and not real social when I get home. We all know this is best, and she does too. The assisted living complex is absolutely gorgeous. Everyone is so nice and she will enjoy it once she gets used to it. It does feel odd though - and I'm sure it feels odd to her too.

And Diana, you are so right. You're mother-in-law definitely needs to be in the nursing home or to have full time in home care. It really isn't safe, but I know how it goes. Good luck with that.

Gayle, I hope you are able to get your mom in the AL place that you want, you remember what i went through getting my mom to where she is now. Do they have a waiting list, I was suprised at quick a room became avaliable for mom. She still can't call it home, after living in the same house for almost 50yrs that is still her home.
I hope your mom does well where ever she ends up living.

Lindey, glad to hear you finally got some time off and was able to relax and enjoy yourself. I do that also after being off work for a week, come Sunday night i usually lay awake most of the night, things running through my head, and afraid i will over sleep and be late for work.

Diana, I bet little Dean is just too cute walking around, now the fun begins, next he will be running and grandma will be chaseing right behind him LOL. I can remember my girls playing in my cabinets, they had one cabinet in the kitchen that i kept some toys in just for them, it was big enough that they could climb inside it and play.

Lynne, they actually have a studio apartment available right now. It is even a larger one. So, we are very fortunate to be able to get her right in.

Gayle, I hope your mom agrees to go there! Even in my tiny town of 900 people, there's a year waiting list for the Assisted Living place across the street from us!

I am pretty tired today because I went to bed late last night (cleaning a bit for company tonight) and woke up an hour before my alarm because Layla pooped... We rearranged the room so her bed is on the floor beside my side of the bed and we're pretty close now. We both smelled it and woke up at the same time lol! I realized what happened and then her head shot up and she flew out of that bed. Anyways, after cleaning it up I couldn't get back to sleep.

Tonight we're having my brother, his girlfriend, the girls, my grandma, and my uncle out to watch the World Junior Hockey gold medal game on our projector and big screen :D It doesn't seem like a year ago already that we were at the games! This year it's in Buffalo, NY. Something like 75% of the ticket holders are Canadian lol! Surprised? Anyways, last year we were defeated by the USA, but Canada knocked out the American team early this year in the semi-finals on Monday night. Tonight it's Canada vs Russia for gold!

I guess that I have a couple of days all to myself. Glen got a call at 4 a.m. from his Mom to go to Nebraska with her and his sisters. His Mom is suppose to get the battery changed in her pacemaker and she doctors in Nebraska, thanks to Glen's sister that lives there. It makes it really hard when something comes up down here because none of the doctors here know her history or what's going on with her.

Anyway.....one sister's son was suppose to come and pick her up and take her home from the hospital while the other sister would bring his Mom back home but she wasn't feeling well when it came time to leave so Glen was called. And they called at the time they were suppose to be leaving. Glen grabbed his clothes and went over.....thank goodness he doesn't have anything going on for the next couple of days. He'll be ready to get away from his Mom once he gets home. He loves her but just doesn't have patience with her anymore.

So........after Dean goes home I think that I'll work on taking the tree down. Sounds like an exciting day.......LOL

Sounds like everyone is busy. I love the idea of having a few days to myself, you're lucky Diana. Today I went and got my hair cut, bought some flea/heartworm for the doggies and and this PhyCox stuff for Penny. She got so she couldn't hold her back end up very well and it would fall to the ground. She is now getting on the furniture and doing great. No more losing control of her back legs.

Then I headed to Mom's, got her dialysis supplies ready for tonight and then took her to get her hair cut. Now...lol...I'm on my laptop, watching Days of Our Lives with two dogs on my lap...lol.

I'm glad to hear Penny is doing so much better!

I went and tried to clean my moms storage.

I had a meeting this morning with a group of persons from a funding foundation in our city. We had submitted grants to them, one for 3,000,000.00 (yes, 3 million dollars :eek:). It is to name our research center after their foundation. I have no idea if they will fund it, we shall see. We also asked for two other grants to increase the size of our nurse practitioner program. There is a great need for primary care and mental health nurse practitioners - so hopefully they will give us money to increase the number of students we can take in that program.

Then, I went to lunch with my mom and daughter at the assisted living facility. THE FOOD WAS GREAT!!! Good food is really important to my mom - she can be so gripey about food that is not good. Both my daughter and I were holding our breath, hoping the food would be good and it WAS!

Everyone was so nice and mom liked it. Although as I've said before, I know she'd rather stay with us, we will be completing the paper work and she will be moving some time next week.

In the meantime, my granddaughter has a volleyball tournament in Houston on Saturday, so I'll be spending Saturday night with mom at my daughters. Hopefully, this will be the last time I'll have to do that! YAY! The assisted living place is only about 3-4 miles from my house, so I can visit often. I'm going to make it a point to visit at LUNCH OR DINNER! LOL! :D

Now I'm at home taking care of Gary. He had an unexpected root canal done today. Now, you might say, how could a root canal be unexpected. Well, he had a dental appointment at the VA this morning - and you never know what they will do when you walk in. He has a tooth that has been very sensitive, so they just did a root canal today! Poor baby, his jaw is really sore! I fixed him VERY SOFT macaroni and cheese.

Oh I forgot to report on Gary's appointment with the orthopedic doc about his shoulder. When she examined it, she was very encouraged because he has quite a bit of range of motion - so she seemed to think it might not be a torn tendon or rotator cuff. She gave him a shot of cortisone and he is to come back in a month to see how it is doing. He says it is not any better, but he has not had to sleep in the chair the last two nights, whereas he had been up in the night with shoulder pain the two previous nights. I sure hope he is able to get by without surgery!!!

We completed all the paperwork today at the Assisted Living facility. The apartment is ready and we will move her in on Monday. She seems fine.

Oh the neatest thing happened. The facility director asked us if we wanted to use the primary care physician at the facility. They said she (the doctor) had two nurse practitioner who worked with the doctor and were at the facility every Friday. When I asked their names, they turned out to be two of the faculty at the School of Nursing that I have worked with for 20 years! I knew they worked at care facilities one day a week, but didnt' know they worked at the one my mom is going to. Mom has no major health problems, just well controlled high blood pressure, low thyroid, and low bone density. So having the NP's take care of her is great! They see the residents in their apartment (house calls!) and there is a clinic if they need a more extensive exam. Now, how cool is that! I have mom's power of attorney so they can discuss her care with me, if they need to. I think we can give her much better care than her other primary care doc she only saw once a year or when she had a problem!

I'll keep my fingers crossed Gayle that surgery is not in Gary's future and that his shoulder pain gets better asap. You've just really been busy huh Gayle??? Sounds like a great place for your mom. We have some nice places around here, but having someone you know helping with your mom really makes it nice.

I don't think I've written much the last few days....the days are all running together so I read and then sleep...lol. Been busy with Mom and trying to keep things running here. I was able to call and speak with my friend of over 30 years....her birthday was yesterday so I called and sang happy birthday to her...lol.

Janet, as long as you are able to sing Happy Birthday to your friend (or anyone), you will be OK. Love you!

It does sound like your mom might be needing assisted living too. I am so fortunate that my mom doesn't have any health problems right now!

I am running back and forth between my daughter's and my home today. Daughter and family are out of town this weekend, so I've got to keep an eye on mom (and stay the night with her tonight) and Gary at the same time. Our houses are 9 miles apart - not that far, but keeps me busy. I'll be SO GLAD to have mom in her own apartment so that I don't have to worry about her.

We are packing her things today too. Quite an adventure! I'm home now to be sure Gary has dinner and get my clothes for the night. WHEW!

I got mom mostly packed last night - have to go back today and do a few more things but not too much. I'm home now to get myself cleaned up and ready for the day. We will move in the morning. YAY!

We had an inch and a half rain last night. WHOO HOO! That is the most rain we've had since - I can't remember when. It is supposed to get butt cold on Monday night, but frankly, I'm ready for some cold weather. I've had to have my air conditioner on at night sometimes - IN JANUARY - to cool off the house to sleep. That is just wrong wrong wrong!

I'm sure I'll be whining about the cold weather soon. :D

Gayle, I am glad things are going so good with your mom'a move, and hope she enjoy's living there.

Wish Janet was having the same luck, I am worried about you girl!!!

Diana, I read on FB you are excited about having snow, I hope you enjoy it, only time i enjoy it is when i don't have to go out in it.

Spent the night and entire day at the hospital with Mom. Came home around 4 and showered. Read a brochure on home health care and now.....relaxing. Eyelids are getting heavy so I know it won't be long till I'm in la la land. :)

I'm so sorry to hear this Janet. Did they keep her? Get u some rest.

I'm sorry your mom is back in the hospital, Janet - but that's where she needs to be to find out where this bleeding is coming from!!!

I'm so tired I want to cry. Moved most of mom's things to the assisted living facility. We helped my sil put together a dresser and wardrobe that we got at Ikea. Mom only has a studio apt. so she needed maximum storage space. The apt. looks good. We'll move her bed and chair tomorrow and the rest of her clothes.

I ran home during the day and put chili in the crockpot. Yum, it was good. It's cold outside so the chili really warmed me up! Now, I'm ready to relax in front of the TV!

We went to a wedding this weekend. I saw some friends I haven't seen in a really long time (including the bride) and I really miss those girls! I had a really good night, drank a lot of wine, danced until my feet ached, and went back to my grandma's house to sleep for the night :) It was storming and we didn't want to go all the way back home.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, I went on a cleaning spree. I vacuumed the whole house, then took out my Shark steam mop and it wouldn't steam :mad: Scott thinks an element might have stopped working. So I got out the old mop and bucket and washed all the floors that way! When I got upstairs I noticed the dust at the bottom of the railings. When someone comes up to the top floor just to talk to someone there, they'll stop on the stairs and look through the railings, and there were fingerprints in the dust :rolleyes: So I grabbed a cloth and washed between every spindle, and over all the railings and in every little crevice of the designs! I also went down all the stairs and wiped the wood down beside the carpet runner. All the woodwork is really beautiful but it's terrible to clean! I guess that's why I hadn't done it yet lol!

When Scott and I first started dating, he got me hooked on this British tv show that he had downloaded, called The IT Crowd. We just loved it and watched all three seasons within weeks! That was over 2 years ago, and the show was on hiatus even though there were ramblings on the internet about new episodes being made. I just happened to find the fourth season this weekend so we watched the whole season last night!!! :D I told him wouldn't it be weird, when we're in London, if we turn on the tv and the show is on just on regular tv instead of the computer? Lol!

I probably should have gone to bed earlier though, I am exhausted at work today!

Finished moving mom's things and got everything set up and put away today. Left at 8:00 this morning and got home at 7:00 this evening. I am pooped.

You've been so busy Gayle.....time to rest a bit. I'm so glad your Mom is in such a nice place and so close. That will make a big difference in her adjusting.

I have just been doing the same thing the last few days...:) running back and forth to the hospital.

So, have they found anything yet, Janet? How's your mom feeling?

I was so tired today. I went to work but completely whimped out and had to come home and take a nap. I had a killer headache and felt like I was getting sick. But after some Advil and a nap, I feel much better.

I didn't get to visit Mom yesterday (Tuesday) because of the snow. I was planning on going today, but we have a two hour delay so now I'll have to wait until after the afternoon route.

The hospital is making me very angry. The last time Mom was in the hospital (Dec. 25-30) the Drs. spoke about her swallowing this camera pill. She was to do it as outpatient and is scheduled for the 18th. I want them to do it while she's there now. She also has horrible internal hemorroids that are causing her a lot of pain and discomfort......but they may dismiss her today....just doesn't make sense to me....but what do I know! Mom could end of bleeding again before her scheduled appointment.

I wonder if her hemmoroids are bad enough to be causing this bleeding???

They are thinking so.....she has 3 small ones outside, but 2 very large inside and sometimes 'coming out'. She is in so much pain, but they are doing a flexible sigmoidoscopy at this moment to make sure it's nothing else.

I had an all day work day at school - getting ready for some changes that will be happening next year. I know it seems odd to be working now for changes next year, but we were looking at what we did this past fall semester, and how things will be different next fall. It's easier to remember what you just did, and change it, than wait till summer and try to remember what you did last fall.

Anyway, it was a long day. I am not yet recovered from the move because when I do anything - all day - I am just BEAT in the late afternoon and evening!!!

Oh and my mom is doing good at Parmer Woods. My daughter and I made it a point to both be "busy" today and unable to visit her. We want her to start doing some things on her own and she did! She went to exercise class this morning and she said she really liked it! YAY!

I'm so glad your Mom is adjusting so well and I like the name of the place. Most places like that have lots to do to keep the residents busy. I couldn't even get my Mom to visit this place in town for senior citizens (not a home of any sort). They play cards, dance, movies, go on trips, have pitch-ins, entertainment..etc. She said they were all too old there......LOLOL

Lol! Your mom is so funny Janet. We have a place like that in our town too and Scott and I can't wait to be old enough to go play cards lol!

I felt really sick last night. I made a pork roast and potatoes in the crock pot yesterday, and then ended up working late and we didn't eat until about 7:30. It was really really good, but the smell of the pork and rosemary filled up the whole floor and I just felt nauseous. I laid down on the living room floor with Layla, covered myself in a blanket, and fell asleep for about 20 minutes. When I woke up I went up to bed and Scott brought me some green tea and I finished reading my book. It was 9:00 when I tried to go to sleep. At 10:00 I still wasn't asleep. I got up and grabbed my journal from a box in a closet and started writing. I haven't used it since April 2009, with my last entry saying my mom is in the hospital and nobody knows what's wrong. :( It helped to get some things off my mind, but I still had to start reading a new book before going to sleep.

I use my cell phone as my alarm in the mornings, and before I went to sleep it was half full of power, and this morning it was dead :eek: We woke up 5 minutes before we usually leave. I was a half hour late for work this morning!

Today...I home alone. Ricky had to work today, so did his Dad and me...well..I woke up with some sinus drainage and chest congestion so I really can't go see Mom. I'm doing a bit of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen and now I'm just chill'n, feels good. Don't think I'm going to do much else either...lol...although I really should go get some groceries, I may just wait till morning.

Mom didn't have a very good night last night. The Dr. told me she was having trouble with breathing and they gave her a breathing treatment. She's never had one of those before. Also...her heart had some irregular beats. Seems like it's always something new going on.

Today....I'm going to try and just relax...Mom is in good hands.