Just A Quick Update...

Okay. I know that I have been a very delinquent blogger. I'm sorry. A lot has been going on in my life, and I have been distracted from posting.

I promised pictures from my trip to Key West. Well, I have actually been to Key West again! Both trips were amazing and great fun! One of these days I will get around to posting some pictures, but not today. As a matter of fact, I have lots of pictures that I want to post... and I will ... sometime... I promise...

So here are a few happenings in my life since I last posted...

• Koko had to be put to sleep
• That was very hard
• I really miss him
• Youngest daughter broke her engagement
• I have had endless frustrations with Himself ( no need to elaborate)
• I have a new roommate
• She has a dog I absolutely adore
• Scud Doesn't like the dog
• The dog, Mia, is terrified of Scud
• I closed out the fiscal year at work (YAY)
• I am working on the financial report for the parish
• The Pastor, Fr. Pat had to have surgery for cancer
• He had breast cancer which was a shock to many of our male parishioners
• He now has a clean bill of health... looks like they got it all and quick enough
• He is still fighting with skin cancer on his legs
• He doesn't slow down for anything
• I admire his tenacity
• I had some new window treatments done for the family room.
• The window treatments were ordered wrong and have to be replaced
• I am still waiting on the replacements
• I had wood flooring put in almost every room of the house
• I LOVE the wood flooring
• Changing flooring requires emptying out rooms and closets
• Putting things back in rooms and closets is not a lot of fun
• I hate to mess up my closet floors by putting things away
• I have lost over 40 pounds
• I am very glad that I have lost over 40 pounds
• Losing 40 pounds requires new clothes and getting rid of old clothes
• I am still sorting through clothes to get down to what fits or will fit soon
• I need to simplify my life by getting rid of excess stuff
• Especially clothes
• And probably a few pair of shoes as well
• I am still very glad that I have lost over 40 pounds
• I had to spend a few bucks on supplies for the hurricane season
• I am glad that I have not had to use them so far this season
• I hope that doesn't change
• My biggest fear about putting in wood floors was water damage from a hurricane
• I am very glad that I do not live in New Orleans or the Florida panhandle
• I have really enjoyed my pool this summer with friends
• I am a little sad that the summer will be over soon
• I really want to replace the heater for the hot tub attached to the pool
• Did I mention that I put in wood flooring?
• Wood flooring is expensive
• I need to finish paying off the wood flooring before I replace the hot tub heater
• I chipped a tooth
• I had my chipped tooth fixed
• I re-chipped the same tooth
• I am planning a trip to visit my older son when he has shoulder surgery in October
• My mom has had several trips to the emergency room
• My mom is now on medication supervision
• I met the girlfriend of Himself
• She is a very nice lady
• We went out to dinner to meet
• I like her
• What IS she thinking???
• I need lessons on how to run and maintain a generator
• On my second Key West trip this year I bought myself a beautiful bracelet
• I really love it
• I am back on a tight budget
• Youngest daughter may be getting back together with her ex-fiance
• He has been very apologetic and is determined to win her back
• Work is getting busier and busier with new requirements added to my job
• I am now spending more time on human resources than finances
• A lot more time
• It is not my favorite thing and very frustrating
• I am grateful for a few friends at work that keep me sane
• There are a few people at work that need to retire
• I had a leak in the pool and had it fixed
• I am trying to be better about keeping up with my communication with friends
• I have let my hair grow out so it is now longer
• I am still losing weight and hope to get back down to 130
• We'll see how it goes
• I eat well and will not get crazy with this
• I can't afford to keep buying clothes!
• I guess I need to learn how to alter the clothes I have
• At least for a while
• I was very unhappy that I had to miss Blogstock 08
• I hope there will be a Blogstock 09 or 10 or something
• I really want to meet those bloggers in person
• I have a new camera so I should have pictures to post soon
• As soon as I figure out how to upload them from the camera to the computer
• I am glad that there are a lot of "kids" around to help me figure these things out
• I can't think of anything else right now
• Did I mention that I have lost over 40 pounds?

Putting Off My Post About My Trip to Key West...

I have been home sick for a few days with a nasty virus. The worst part of it is the sore throat... I can't swallow and it even hurts to talk. Very frustrating to say the least. I have a lot going on at work and have been trying to get the energy together to post about my wonderful trip to Key West last weekend. It will have to wait until I feel better and am done with the audit at work.

In the meantime, I am becoming a MSNBC Junkie as I lay on the couch and try to get some sleep. Hopefully I will be back into the swing of things by Monday.

Have A Wonderful Easter!

The kids are strewn about the country, so I will have dinner on Sunday with my mom in the dining room at her place. I hope you all have a wonderful day with your families.

Ho Hum

Not a whole lot happening just now, but I thought I had better post something for all of my adoring fans...

My sister, Betsy, was here from California for a week to visit our mom and do what she could to help. Unfortunately, she got sick the night before her flight and arrived sick. So, she spent several days just hanging out at my house before she could visit Mom. It was a good visit. We rarely get time to chat together. Usually we just see each other during all of the craziness of Thanksgiving.

We ate out a lot while Betsy was here. I am not used to being tempted so frequently, so consequently, I am having to add another 5 pounds to my weight loss goal. It was worth it!

Mr. Koko is hanging in there. He continues to hang out most of the day on one of his heating pads, and he is still managing to eat a reasonable amount of food. I'm not sure how much weight he has put back on, but he is looking better. He rather enjoys all of the pampering... except for his morning medicine.

Things are still moving along with the house. I am really enjoying my new leather chair and couch. I had put up with an uncomfortable worn-out futon for so many years that having good seating in the family room seems amazing. Last weekend I visited a local kitchen remodeling store to get an updated view of what is available... next step is to get a quote... after I am revived, I will decide how much of a kitchen remodel I can afford. Then I need to check out replacing the carpeting with wood and laminate flooring. My list is way too long!

Shelfari And Koko Update

I have started to keep track of the books I am reading and have read on Shelfari. My sister invited me to join first, and then another blogger. Eventually I think that I will only list my favorite books. I think it will be interesting to see what other people are reading and have read. I have just started to list my books and look forward to checking out reviews on other books I am interested in reading. Maybe it will all be a waste of time. Who knows?

I had to return Mr. Koko to the vet after he was home for one day. He is still there. $$$$$ I am hoping that the biopsy results will arrive tomorrow. Allison, Charles and I visited him yesterday and today. He is still hooked up to the IV and they have him on a heating pad and hot water bottle. Yesterday, he was still very lethargic, but he has been eating and today he was quite a bit more his usual irascible self. It's a good sign.

In the meantime, I have been doing a bit of research online about feline pancreatitis which seems to fit his symptoms. As long as his results don't show cancer I think he may get through this and be around for a few more years. The house has seemed very quiet and empty without him talking to me and purring in my ear at night.

Mr. Koko Is On Valium

Poor Koko. It's tough enough being a 17 year old cat. Today though, I had to take him to the vet again. He was uncomfortable walking last night and had been complaining loudly as only a Siamese cat can. A mass showed up in his X-ray that was unusual--not like a normal tumor. The vet thought at one point that he may have swallowed something. So this afternoon Mr. Koko was in surgery.

I talked to the vet around 4:30 pm and he was still unsure about the mass after he had removed it. It is being sent for a biopsy along with liver and pancreas samples. The vet said that the liver and pancreas did not look good. So time will tell what is going on with my old cat. In the meantime, he is on Valium and an IV and will be monitored until he is ready to come home. There is something quite humorous about a Siamese cat--especially Koko--on Valium. I guess you would have to know him to get the humor. He can be quite irascible. Perhaps if you have ever read the comic strip "Get Fuzzy" you might understand a bit.

On another note... just to let you know that my life continues to throw me left curves... In the midst of the Koko issues, my dryer decided to quit working. Thanks to my good neighbors (yes, the same ones that put me up when my electric was out) I will have dry underwear to wear tomorrow. Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

It's A New Year

Well, the new year has come, and I have had a lot going on in the past couple of months so I have a lot of things that I could write about in this post. I'll highlight a few and try to get up to date.

My mom's official move-in date to the retirement complex was November 19th. It is certainly a relief to have her closer to me, but it also poses a few new problems. I have been taking her out to dinner when I can... several times a week when she first moved. I took quite a few days off without pay to get the things done that were necessary to get her settled. This involved furniture shopping, clothes shopping, appointments for new doctors, and the continuance of getting rid of things that she no longer wants, needs, or has room for in her new place. I have tried to get her used to me taking her grocery shopping on Wednesday night and out to dinner on Sunday night with another trip to the store. I actually want to continue to get her out to dinner at least twice a week.

My first challenge was to convince her that she was not going to pay for my meal every time we go out for dinner. My next challenge was to get her to realize that I cannot continually take time off from work every time she wants me to do something for her. A third challenge has been grocery shopping. I will take her one day and get a call the next day that there is something else that she needs immediately. Another challenge has been to get her to be sociable with the people around her. She has been hesitant to go out of her way to make friends. It is happening gradually, however. These have all been minor and seem to be working themselves out over time.

Driving was a bigger issue. I drove her over the same routes numerous time to see if she could learn a basic route to and from the grocery store center where there are also other shops that she would utilize. No go. Her short term memory loss made it too difficult for her, and she decided on her own to give up her car to one of the grandchildren. That puts me in the hot seat a bit more(especially when she was sick with a virus for a couple of weeks), but it is okay.

All in all the move has been good. "L" and I will continue to keep her happy with get-togethers and trips out and about, and she will hopefully make some new good friends.

I recently got the news that I will be going through another audit at work this year... probably around April. This will be the second one with an outside auditor... the last one was about three years ago. The Diocese now likes to have them done every three years. It should go well, and is only an annoyance as it takes up several days of my time.

My 17 year old Siamese cat, Koko, was sick over the holidays. At one point I thought that he was at the end of his life, but he has snapped back. He had weighed about nine pounds and had lost two of those pounds! A trip to the vet to get him hydrated and put on appetite stimulants and antibiotics did the trick. In a few weeks his weight increased by a pound. I continue to monitor his eating to make sure he is getting what he needs. This can be a challenge since the other cat, Scud, who weighs 22 pounds keeps trying to chase Koko away and steal his food. Scud needs Overeaters Anonymous for cats. He was a stray and thinks every meal is his last.

The kids were all home for Christmas, but only for a few days. The boys left early on the 27th. I was disappointed, but at least they were all home for my birthday on December 26th. It was a fun Christmas though, and we certainly had plenty to eat and a good time!

December 26th was a big day for me for another reason... It was the days we closed on the house... I bought himself out of the house so I (along with the mortgage bank) am now the proud owner of my abode!!! In the process I also paid off my car and my remaining credit card debt. It really feels good!

I have continued fixing up the place. I won't go into my disaster with paint choices... I am learning to tolerate colors other than what I chose and will repaint at a later date. The biggest issue I have now is to decide what is most important to do next. I have a limited amount of money set aside and a number of projects that add up to more that I can afford. Sooo, I am taking my time to make decisions.

In the process of all of this fixing-up, I decided it was time to re-hang the livingroom curtains... They had been sent to the cleaners a little over a year ago, and I had the sheers hanging on hangars in my closet waiting to be rehung. I had the old valance in the living room taken down as well as the curtain rods so that I could get the living room painted. The valance went into the trash and I decided not to hang the old curtains... I would just hang the sheers. The walls were painted and the curtain rod rehung... when I went to hang the sheers, I was in for a surprise. They looked like my curtains. The color was right. The width was right. Maybe the backing on the pleated top looked a bit more worn... but I had sent them to the cleaners. I just can't figure out how theygrew 9 inches in length! I tend to think that when someone got their curtains back from the cleaners a little over a year ago they were quite upset at how much they had shrunk. I will be hemming my adopted curtains.

I had great plans to get things dome over the New Year's holidays. The Christmas tree would get undecorated and taken down, Christmas decorations would get put away, I would do some movie watching, do some reading, and catch up on my blogging. I had to work on the 31st since it was the end of the calendar year and there were a few things I needed to get done. After work I went directly to my mom's apartment to pick her up and take her out to dinner. It was a scrumptous dinner and when we were done, I dropped her off back at her apartment. It was going to be a good night.

When I got home, I gathered my things out of the car, got the mail from the mailbox, and unlocked the front door. I turned the switch to turn on the light in the livingroom and nothing happened. Darn! I thought the cats had pulled out the plug again. So, I stumbled into the kitchen and turned the light on in there... oops no light! It dawned on me that the electricity was off. Rats! It is not uncommon for the electric to go off on occasion, but it usually comes right back on. I stepped back outside to see what other houses were dark and discovered that everyone else on the street had electricity. Hmmm.

I called himself to see if he had neglected to pay the electric bill (he had been slow paying or still had to pay some others) or if he had paid it late. He stutterd around for a minute, but the bottom line was that he had had the electric turned off. I called the electric company to find out that he had arranged on December 26th to have the electric turned off on the 31st and had neglected to tell me. He still maintains that he only tried to have the account transferred. Any way, since it was New Year's Eve the electric company could do nothing more for me than collect a $400.00 deposit which I had to pay in order to even schedule the service to be turned back on on January 2nd.

It just so happens that over the holiday we were expecting a cold front to come through and it was going to get into the thirties. I know that you "nawtheners" are laughing right now, but by Florida standards, that's more than just a bit nippy! Besides that, I had an underweight and sick Siamese cat to worry about, no heat, a refrigerator-freezer full of food, no light, and no hot water. I was not a happy camper. I called daughter Allison on my cell phone and she called her dad. Himself then came by with a couple of electric cords and plugged the refrigerator into an outlet of a helpful next door neighbor so that the food would not go bad. I did have to get rid of some things that had already melted in the freezer since the electric had been off most of the day. I spent the night with my Italian friends/neighbors, and the next day was able to take a hot shower and get cleaned up. Before the colder weather came through I built a fire in the fire place. Koko was warm, I was warm and I spent that night at home. The electric came back on about 4:00 pm on January 2nd. It was not the happiest New Years in my life, but I am grateful to have such wonderful neighbors!

Now we come to this past week...

I hesitated to post this picture, but I know a priest in Ireland who will be interested in seeing it. He reads this blog on occasion. What you are looking at is a picture on my former pastor's back. He, Fr. Aiden whom I have written about in the past, was out for his morning walk when an SUV truck did a u-turn and hit him. He survived without any broken bones, but has a huge hemotoma behind his kidney and generally looks like... he was hit by a truck! He spent this past week in the hospital and was moved to a rehab center on Friday. He is very sore, to say the least. Please keep him in your prayers.

So that is more or less the highlights of the last couple of months. Life is never dull.

Checkin In...

I survived the holidays and will post something soon... just wanted to let you know I am still alive.