The Rest of the Week

The bathroom project is underway.  Walls are falling, debris is piling and dust is floating. 

I discovered there is a 5" area of dead space between my bedroom bookcase and the bathroom closet/shelves. Since my contractor cannot incorporate it into either side, it just seemed like a shame to leave it empty.I decided it needed doll house furniture and perhaps a ceramic mouse family.  I have limited shopping available in my small town and the Dollar store let me down. But on the way out I spotted a fairy village and went with that.  

My friend said I should have included a note for future home remodelers but it was too late. The new drywall is up. 

Then he made me do math.  The picture is a photo I took of something that was on a display for shower doors at the home improvement store. I like to photograph things like that and print them randomly when my local drug store offers a free 8x10.  It took a few marker colors, but I finally got it the way I want it. 

Thursday Miss Merry, a daughter, a daugher inlaw and four grandchildren went to an "imagination station" in a city an hour away.  That city was not on school break so we really had a wonderful time with not many other children. 

Thursday evening I talked my daughter into joining me for gigantic margaritas at our Mexican restaurant while we enjoyed the karaoke contest finalists. I have been watching the competition on Facebook live, but she was very surprised by the talent of the finalists.  They were sensational! The winner will be announced next week. 

Friday I had a shuffle of children, but still had four grandchildren here.  It was supposed to be warm and sunny with temperatures maybe reaching 70. Instead it was cold and cloudy and rainy. I had purchased the box of Christmas Cutouts at GFS in November and the box was still unopened in my freezer. It was the perfect day to bake and frost Christmas cookies. 

Today I am trying to watch television over the sound of a drill and hammer and sawzall and trying to catch up on laundry while side stepping the extension cords and shop vac.  This is almost physical therapy since one of my exercises is going up and down my hallway, facing ahead while side stepping.  

Monday I get to go to another two hour training as a poll worker. I guess my state is planning on paying me to attend the same two hour session 2-3 times a year for the rest of my life.  I am not, however, setting up the room for this spring's election after the table broken nose incident. 

Spring Break

A new post already because I don't want the last post at the top of my page. 

The bathroom renovation has begun. Do you see the writing on the wall? 

I posted these pictures in our family group shot and my middle son shared that he remembers that he and his younger brother were put to bed and when the oldest came to bed, he told them he and dad had signed the wall behind the new cupboards. And they were so jealous. 

So that was cute. And I told them that anyone else who now wants to sign the wall 33 years later has two days to come and do it! 

And then I took grampa out for his favorite hamburger at an out of town hamburger stand to thank him for his hard work. 

It turns out the hamburger stand is closed on Tuesdays, but there is a Mexican restaurant across the street. 

Meanwhile the two moms and a dad took this group on a movie and dinner outing.  I couldn't make it. Thank goodness.

My oldest daughter is in London with her family and this is the living room in their Airbnb. And isn't it just what you would expect? So cute. 

I got another book in the mail (that I ordered) and it is on the top of the to-be-read pile. And today I spotted another to-be-read pile I forgot about in my bedroom. 

And this afternoon I visited the Physical Therapy Department for an evaluation.  It turns out I am not just clumsy. I have some reasons to be clumsy. 

I did a whole series of simple tests and she confirmed that my left foot and even my left leg drags. She thinks it is possibly due to my sciatica and that my shingles followed the sciatic nerve and caused nerve damage. So I will be going to physical therapy to strengthen the foot and leg.  

 

And she really noticed my balance is off. It wasn't just me. She isn't sure what caused it; could be scar tissue from ear infections, but it was obvious that I have trouble maintaining balance without being able to tap a wall or keep my eyes open or keep my arms where I can reach out to grab something. She had me stand on a piece of foam and it was like I was in outer space. There is something called Vistibular Rehabilitation Therapy for that.  There are a few therapists out there that specialize in both so I am getting signed up for three sessions a week for three weeks and we will see what's up.  I am hoping to be able to go places this summer without clutching a stroller for support.  And hopefully I won't fall out of any more cars. 

I moved my church day to tomorrow. Thursday I am going to an imagination station with a crew of children and parents and Friday I am starting PT and then taking two other grandchildren out to lunch on the island - since our temperatures are supposed to go up 30 degrees higher than they were today. I hope that is true. 

And in the meantime I have exercises to do 3 times a day as I walk up and down my hallway. A purpose in life! 

The Weekend.

I'm pretty sure it was the start of the weekend that is making me feel absolutely exhausted. But aside from the freaky horrible catastrophy of six and a half hours daytime hours on Friday, I still managed to salvage what was left of two and a half days. 

Local headline.  I no longer have an sympathy for him since I found that the wild response from law enforcement in my front yard was due to his threats toward his wife regarding his automatic fancy pants weapon.  He is currently in the mental health ward in another city and has felony charges pending.  My heart does bleed for her and her children.  

And luckily he was stopped in his tracks in time for the Merry family to drive the two hours to hear my grandson's high school band performing in a college bar.  (selfish, I know and I don't care).  This is the first time my husband has seen them in person and it's been about a year and a half since I would listen to them practice in my daughter's basement when I would stay for a week while they did CEU credits at exotic locations. 

They were fabulous, even brought in a horn section in the rear right of the photo. There is another guitarist on the far left. It is hard for short grammas to take photos in a crowd. 

Afore mentioned short gramma. 

Saturday I was up and ready to drive the almost two hours in the other direction with this cutie pie and her mother to see a university production of the Sound of Music. I cannot tell you how absolutely talented every single vocal performer was and how impressed we were with the whole production. 

She absolutely loved the musical. I did not share any of the story ahead of time because I like to hear what she gets out of it. She thought it was a very sweet love story and that some guards came to take the dad and they climbed over the mountain so they could live happily ever after.  She did not notice any nazi symbols on clothing, she did not seem perturbed about any of that nonsense. I asked her if she thought it was a fairytale or a story or real life and she picked fairytale. She was shocked when I showed her a photo of the real Von Trapp Family Singers and I think it was because they were not college co-eds.  

Then, because we don't think ahead, we went out to dinner in a college town on a Saturday night with no reservations. An hour later we were seated and I enjoyed this bacon cheese burger with blue cheese and bacon jam and I am willing to drive two hours every week if I can have more of that bacon jam. 

No photo can do justice to the taste of this burger.  Maybe this photo of my favorite little girl child model eating a children's meal cheeseburger, but eating one of my french fries can explain the size of the sandwich. 

And because I was discombobulated Friday, I forgot to share a photo of my #six out of eight grandson's 3rd grade music performance, the second 3rd grade performance we attended in the last two weeks.  

He is the handsome young man in the blue shirt and had a dancing solo! We are very proud of him. 

And our Indivisible's townhall meeting made the national Indivisible account! What makes this so special is that I live in an area that is about 99% Republican. But the farmers and the veterans that make up our community are not happy.  Actually many are scared. This wasn't what they voted for.  And we were overwhelmed by the attendance. We reached in the sky and were hoping for maybe 30 participants, enough to not embarass ourselves in front of the speakers. We never expected in excess of 200 people. 

It is now spring break for every single one of my grandchildren. Again, not off to a good start. My oldest daughter woke up this morning to 26 missed calls from a contracted driver waiting at Heathrow Airport for her family who is not arriving until tomorrow morning. Her travel agent booked the wrong date.  .   .   

We are falling apart over here

*3:10 pm - all clear. The gentleman is being loaded in EMS and headed to the hospital. 

As if I didn't have enough going on, this morning around 8:30, just when I was going to hop in the shower, my friend Helen called and said 2 police cars just sped past her house towards my street.

We looked outside and they were stopped in front of my house and both officers (one was my son, jumped out, guns drawn). 

We do not pick up police on our scanner but heard them stage the ambulance a block away and station fire trucks at both ends of my street to block traffic.  The husband of the girl across the street has a gun and is out in the back yard threatening suicide.  We ended up with a sheriff, five police cruisers, the SWAT team, a Crisis Response Team, Mental Health who travel in an Equinox, I don't know what else. 

We are locked in our houses. My grandson is here and we have been playing tornado drill and hanging out in the windowless utility room. 

Most of these officers have rifles with them and my neighbors are exchanging pictures of shadows of armed men walking by their bedroom windows. 

I had a doctor's appointment and had to call and say SWAT was blocking my driveway and I couldn't come. They allowed me to do a zoom and were all very sweet.  I am going for a PT evaluation on Tuesday. 

It has now been 4 hours, maybe 4 1/2.  We are in the same spot. He is pacing all over the place with his gun. People are stationed everywhere. He almost surrendered and changed his mind. One of my neighbors can hear him talking when he comes closer to his house (next door to her house). 

His wife was inside when she called. About an hour into this, the assistant chief escorted her out safely. I was holding my breath.  I have texted her and invited her to my porch or in my house to wait, but she is still standing outside in 40 degree temps and tells me it will end soon. 

I live in paradise.  I live in a little town where everyone knows your name and remembers your kids names (they have two children, one just graduated and one is in high school). We share flower bulbs and shovel each others sidewalks and I for real have a picket fence.  When people move in, I take them a pie. 

This isn't supposed to happen here.  And no one needs a firearm like the one he has.  

I'm not sure what his struggles are. I know he has been battling health problems since they moved here in 2020.  I pray that he surrenders soon, that the law enforcement officers and his family are all safe, too. And that he willingly takes advantage of help that is offered to him. 

My son is the one whose firearm is holstered while he negotiates with him.  I never dreamed the little boy who rode up and down this sidewalk on his CHIPS plastic motorcycle would be a part of a police drama on the same doorstep.  

There are times when I want to eliminate social media, but it has been a godsend to my neighborhood today. Those of us barracaded are staying in touch by private message since his wife is on our group chat. Those at work are also messaging me. And people who know it is my street are also messaging me. It was interesting during my zoom dr appt. Ding Ding Ding Ding