with blackouts and seizures. Friday it seemed to be connected to unusually high blood sugar, as the episodes seemed to respond to a strong dose of insulin. They (doctors and nurses) had discontinued regular insulin shots as the diabetes seemed to be under control with being in the hospital and then the nursing homes where she had controlled diet, regular meals and her prescribed medications in a timely manner. Saturday they weren't certain what was going on, they gave her shots of something (Mom doesn't remember the name of the drug) and she eventually settled in a restless sleep.

Mom thinks I should keep my phone handy. Just in case, because if Allure can't reach Mom, they'll call me.

If anyone out there can spare good thoughts for my dear sister, and strength for my Mom?

Last week and a half was crammed with bad news: Thanksgiving went all right, had a nice visit/meal with Husband's Aunt. I'd planned to go visit Mom on Saturday, but Riza started acting up about 20 minutes into the trip. It started with the Cruise Control suddenly conking out; I tried a couple times to reset it, but it didn't take. A little later Riza started experiencing odd jerks and surges; my immediate thought was transmission problems (I admit it, I'm paranoid about my cars' transmission systems). While I might have made it to Mom's, I didn't like the idea of driving 90 miles home in the dark under those conditions. So I pulled over at the next exit, stopped the car, turned off the engine and called both Mom and Husband to let them know I was turning around and why. I was very disappointed, because as I told Mom, 'I had a cooler full of Thanksgiving I wanted to share with her'. Oddly enough, there were NO problems during the trip back, which leads me to think (and my Goodyear mechanic to provisionally agree) that it may have been my cruise control still acting up, because I did try to re-set it several times before pulling over and turning off the engine, which would have cancelled any CC commands in the system. My mechanic advised me NOT to take any trips out of town until he could check it out, which will be this coming Wednesday.

One good thing that resulted: Husband took me to see "Ghostbusters-Afterlife" that evening to make up for my disappointment. Great movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cast, Director and Special Effects were all A +....

The REAL bad news starts here.

Older sister is in the hospital. Before Thanksgiving she'd finally gone in to get those odd masses in her lungs biopsied. Still don't know what they actually are, other than slightly larger than five years ago. But following the Biopsy procedure, Older Sister was in almost constant pain and occasionally coughing up blood. Mom and Younger Sister basically forced her to the doctor's office Wednesday (after she tried to cancel the follow-up visit 'because she hurt too much') and she was admitted. Several scans later, they discovered fluid not in her lungs, but in the lung cavity. The plan was to transfer her to a larger hospital where they could drain the fluid, and maybe start treatment for whatever is going on with the lungs. But, larger hospital had no beds available, so Friday local hospital did their best to drain the fluid with some success, but Older Sister is still in some pain. Mom is worried, I'm worried, Younger sister is Worried. Maybe by Monday the doctors will have some idea on how to go forward.

Thursday, we heard about college friends: Rafe, who was on the college radio station staff, bookstore frequenter, Friday night D & D player, and one of the founding members of our local SCA chapter, and his 2nd wife were apparently murdered by her adult son sometime over the Thanksgiving weekend. One of their local friends had asked the county sheriff to do a welfare check, and the bodies were discovered Wednesday. I actually was not that close to Rafe (Husband barely knew him outside the SCA), but he was one of the core members of the group I tended to hang out with in college; Bree, Emtae and Cobett had all reconnected with him over Facebook in the last five years or so and would occasionally share news with the rest of us. We had supper with Bree Friday night and reminisced about the college days; she plans to go to the services on December 18th.

From Bree we heard details about our friend Julie, who is in the hospital in St. Louis with seizures. About 10 years ago she'd had surgery to remove a tumor from an optic nerve, with the immediate result of seizures (they had to go in through her brain) and blindness. Eventually she regained vision in one eye, and the seizures were under control, and for the past five years or so she'd been doing really well. From what we were told, the doctors were trying to reduce one or more of her meds to alleviate some unwanted side effects. Poor Julie! Her husband (another college friend) has been a rock of support. It just isn't fair that they have to go through this again!

Aaannnnd, closer to home: Cobett's general health has deteriorated to the point where he is actively considering going into Assisted Living Care.

Can we start the month over??? This is too much for the beginning of December!!!

At least Jethro's ear infection has finally cleared up.... and I thought Bel was fussy about the daily ear drops!

Husband and I both received our first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine last Thursday...

It is our hope that by the time Nephew graduates from OU in May, most members of the immediate family (Mom, me, Youngest Sister and Spouse, Niece, Nephew and Texas in-laws) will be fully protected, and if Mom and I drive down to Oklahoma for the festivities, there WILL BE HUGGING!!!!

WOOT!!!

There is some progress on the furnace situation (fortunately, we seem to be past the DEEP FREEZE although the Snow Demons took a parting shot over the weekend) -- we have someone coming in Thursday to give us an estimate. I am optimistic, as the company is the same one that put in/maintains the boilers at the church.

 Okay, the pile of tree branches has diminished by about half, thanks to several evenings of concentrated wood-chipping by Husband and myself.  Husband tried to rent a wood-chipper and couldn't -- apparently there are liability issues  involved -- so he ended up buying a small one from Home Depot.  Because the lowest price we were quoted by tree experts was $450.00, plus haulage fees.  Lots of wood chips lining the alley way, LOL.... and odd as it sounds, I wish that it would rain a little bit because those branches have dried out leaves and I'm a bit worried about the possibility of a fire hazard.... 

Father-In-Law was buried and memorialized last week.... and if I never attend another Jehovah's Witness service again, it will be too soon.  

Digging through the closet last week, looking for appropriate funeral-type garb, we ran across a folder that looks like an Annuity policy F-i-L set up after Husband's mother (F-i-L's 1st wife) passed away, naming Husband, and Aunt M., (F-i-L's younger sister) as beneficiaries.... however, we don't know if it's still valid, as F-i-L remarried about 9 months later, and he may have changed it since then to favor 2nd wife instead.  Trying not to get hopes up.... if nothing else we DO have legal possession of the house. 

Need to get Bel to the vet and get her shots this week.  

We have an Interim Pastor, starting in August.  That will take a bit of the load off my shoulders... I hope!

 Just a week until Thanksgiving -- what am I thankful for?  Mom still with us; Daughter showing an on-going interest in adult independence (if only Texas wasn't so far away!); the Goodyear credit card I qualified for back in February during the car brakes crises, which I managed to pay down by half just in time to re-spend on four badly needed tires for Adric, the Demon Malibu (still needs that gas tank sensor replaced!); the Astros beating the Dodgers; Husband NOT backing into the bicycle-riding homeless man in the dark and the Police believing Husband in the matter (between the Running out of Gas Incident, the Dog-Chomp, Vandalism at the Church, and Homeless Bicycle Man, we seem to be rapidly acquiring a 'first name' acquaintance with our local Police force.?!?) ...

Thankful that we have insurance, even though the co-pays and deductibles tripled and they want us to mail-order our medications instead of going through our local pharmacy.  

Because Mom is going to Youngest Sister's in Texas over Thanksgiving -- she wants to attend an Oklahoma University home game so she can see the Nephew in the halftime marching band -- we are going up to Woodstock to have turkey, etc. with Aunt Marie.  Which kind of leaves Older Sister on her lonesome (Younger Sister will probably go to  Her S.O.'s grandmothers'), which I feel bad about, so I will probably drive over that weekend to visit her.  I do sort of wish I'd had the spare income to go to TARDIS-Con since ANIME-zing!  this year was disappointing, but it has seriously been one thing after another this year (though not nearly as bad as a few of my friends -- wish I could have done more, my 'Polly-mio!)

On the knitting front:  I found a simple sock pattern, and am knitting at least one pair for the PW Mitten, Hat and Sock tree.  No major projects since Nephew's comforter and the shawl for our church Music Director.  Two almost finished hats, one for the tree, the other for Boy Friend Z.

Books read: I have been working my way, more or less chronologically, through Elizabeth Peters' 'Amelia Peabody' series; "Arabella of Mars" by David Levine (borrowed from Older Sister); "House of Four Winds", by Mercedes Lackey & ???. 

Also, manga: "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid", "The Devil is a Part-Timer", "Food Wars".

Manga on order: "Kaza Hikaru" (finally! it's been 2 years!); 'Natsume's Book of Friends" (Jan. 2018), "The Ancient Magus' Bride" (Feb. 2018).

Guess that's pretty much it for now....

 We have a tenant in the big, partially hollow tree in the backyard -- no, not Keebler elves, nor Pini elves, nor even named 'David'.  We have a Raccoon.  Which is driving Jethro crazy, especially at around 2:30 in the morning when it decides to go walk-about in the (mostly) vacant lot next door.  I've seen it a few times; so has Daughter.  Husband got to see it one evening around dusk, when, for reasons only known to the critter itself, it decided to emulate our acrobatic squirrel troop and attempt a tree-to-tree maneuver and thence to the ground before trundling its way down the sidewalk and out into the alley.  We suspect that due to the tons of rain during the latter half of May, the varmint was flooded out of its usual habitat (we are approximately 1/2 mile from the river, as the crow flies/raccoon trundles).... the real question is whether or not we have a SingleRaccoonMale, or an ExpectantRaccoonFemale -- it being that time of year.....  Hopefully, SRM will return to its usual foraging grounds once the water goes down;  ERF, on the other hand..... well, we had a Mama Possum a few years ago that we only discovered once the babies were mobile enough to crawl out of the tree, not to mention the rabbits which persist in digging their baby bunny burrows within tie-out reach of the mudroom porch....

In the meantime, we are being careful about putting Bel or Jethro outside after dark.  Bel has always been pretty chill with wildlife antics -- she'll watch from the porch.  Jethro, on the other hand, raises the roof....and has to be restrained from dashing down the stairs. 

Over the past weekend, my Jazz-loving,  mathematical genius of  a nephew graduated from high school; Mom flew down to Texas for the festivities.  Nephew -- National Merit Scholar that he is -- has already been accepted by the University of Oklahoma, AND has a slot in the university marching band!!!  I am about a third of the way finished knitting an afghan in school colors (crimson and cream) for his dorm room, and will really have to double-down for the next few weeks.

Also over the weekend, we accomplished some house-cleaning and bad weed removal in the butterfly garden.  I think this year we will forego the usually futile attempts at a vegetable garden.  I pulled 'bad' weeds, and cleared areas for more of the desirables (Milkweed, Joe Pye Weed, Butterfly Weed, etc.) Looking to expand into Hummingbird-friendly plants as well.

Also trying to find the type of Sage plant that I had up at the trailer -- the one with the gorgeous silver-white flowers.... the thing is, I'm pretty sure that it was an ordinary culinary sage variety, picked up at random at a local garden shop.... but!  The closest I can find anywhere is either "White Sage", which is considered a desert climate variety (not suitable for Midwest growing) and reportedly has light purple flowers, or "Bee Sage", which does have white flowers, but not only looks nothing like my plant but is not suitable for cooking use.  Considering that the original purpose of the plant was  for cooking, I'm starting to wonder if my lovely little plant was a mutant....  Oh, how I wish I'd thought to take a cutting or even dig up the plant during the spring after the move but before the trailer sold!!!    **sigh**

On the Knitting Front: finished the 'Waves and Scallops' shawl, and gave it to our church's Music Director who went in for knee replacement surgery the week before Memorial Day.  She is also the organizer of the Prayer Shawl ministry -- my thought was:she's always making shawls to give to other people, she should receive one too.   As mentioned earlier, am now in a frenzy working on school afghan for the Nephew.  All other knitting is now on hold.

Books read:  Um. Too busy knitting.

Birthday Shout-Out to my One and Only Moffett (aka "Reziac")!!!

Like the label says, the month of July had its downs and ups:

( b*tching, fan-girling, family matters, and chows ahead )

I hope August is better.

I keep forgetting to check my DW account for posts, which I really shouldn't because there ARE a few of my friends who only post here/there these days....sorry, will try to follow the plot a little better....

Not a whole lot happened during July -- Bel was upset with me most of the month due to the twice-a-week anti-arthritis treatments PLUS two weeks of ear-drops and pills to clear up a nasty ear infection -- Daughter got to make use of the animal restraint training from her Veterinarian Assistance class. Jethro was a bit of a nuisance, as he kept trying to nibble/lick said infected ear.

My elder sister *Oddyssia* came to visit the first weekend of August, and we spent lots of time & some money at the used bookstores... She brought along several shopping bags of books to trade, and ended the weekend with a hefty credit at The Book Rack. I spent a bit much on books myself -- a couple of sf-fantasy books, manga, etc. Visited Popcorn Charlie's and hooked Big Sister on their Black Licorice and French Vanilla flavors. Watched a good chunk of DW S6 together and SH:Game of Shadows. Good times.

September. No one I've talked to can remember the Indian Summer Festival/Labor Day Parade being rained out before, but thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Isaac it happened this year. Sadly, it seemed appropriate since the church's beloved Vacation Bible School director Jane passed away August 30th. The brain tumor turned out to be inoperable, and chemo really didn't do much. She was such a cheerful, out-going energetic person, barely 60....

Sigh.

Someone told me the other day that 55 is the new 'Middle Age' ('Old' is 75, apparently)-- does that mean it's time for my Mid-Life Crisis?

*contemplates the 'Stars' tattoo design*

Nope, still not keen on pain....

Happy Shared Birthday, Youngest Sister!

The first week of June was busy and worrisome, due to Husband's unexpected visit and overnight stay in the hospital. See, back in December, Husband's Diabetes doctor retired, and so he was recommended to another local doctor. Mid-May the new doctor had Husband do a lot of tests and stuff, basically so she could get a feel for his condition, including EKG and Stress Test... something didn't quite look right with the results so she referred him to a heart specialist (also changed his medications a bit).

On June 2nd he saw the specialist who did whatever it is specialists do (special x-rays, etc.) and um, two of the secondary arteries in his heart were blocked or partially blocked. Doctor said, "let's schedule an angiogram for later this month; see what's going on, clear out the build-up if we need to.... oh, just had a cancellation, how about tomorrow (aka Friday)?"

Long story short, Husband ended up spending the night at Trinity West with two freshly angioplasted arteries, one with a stent. Apparently there was a section of artery that was like those long balloons all big and full at the ends, with a small pinched bit in the middle.

Well, as Husband (and Father-in-Law) pointed out, better to catch it now when there's time to fix it than be rudely surprised in a year or so with a heart attack! It was a hectic 48 hours, though not as bad as the Broken Hip incident. So Husband's got more, new medications to take and is on 'Light Work' duties 'til the end of the month (Though he's STILL working 10-Hour shifts at the plant...grumble grumble -- I KNOW, be grateful he's working....).

Anyway, between Hospital and Dentist, it's been a bit Hectic. PLus my Boss is getting ready for the annual Mission Trip to South Dakota, which means lots of working ahead and making sure all the bases are covered for the next two weeks.... "Tired" doesn't cover it. I went home last night, tossed frozen Dinners in the microwave for Husband and Daughter and went to bed. Friday is my Parent's 60th Anniversary; Youngest Sister and family are going to be in town, so the plan is to meet Sunday for noon dinner... If I hadn't already paid my money, I'd seriously be tempted to skip AnimaZING!Con this weekend.

Hopefully I'll get to see oddyssia this weekend; she said she had more of that lovely TARDIS-blue yarn, which means if I get my act together maybe I can make the cute TARDIS cell-phone cover that was posted over on novice_knitters.livejournal. Only problem, the pattern is 'in the round', which means I have to gird my loins and hazard the DP needles again, or figure out how to knit it 'flat'.

Starting to run out of new books to read. Would go buy more, but have to pay the Bills first. bleh.

I'm quite pleased this year -- I ordered one each: white lily, yellow tulip, pink hyacinth, and purple hyacinth and that's what I got -- well, the tulip was actually orange & red streaked, but since it was for Heath that worked out nicely. I took pictures of the plants and will try to post once I get the cd back from the developer.

The White Lily was for seers atemu (Tish), her fiancee Josh, and Baby seers.

The Tulip was for Heath.

The Pink Hyacinth was for my paternal and maternal grandparents, my paternal aunt in Indiana, and my paternal uncle in Texas (no, dear BBM friends, his name was *not* Jack Twist).

The Purple Hyacinth was for my husband's mother, and his half-brother.

**************

I gave the Pink Hyacinth to my folks yesterday when daughter and I went out to visit (husband stayed home and fixed my car brakes). Daughter has a migraine today, and I have a call into Dr. Cullen because the preventative doesn't seem to be working very well. Poor kid.

-- Boy am I glad I ordered 'Zero' through DreamSpinner Press and not amazon!!! Now, if it would just get here!!!!