A Surprise Turkey Day

The family is still sitting vigil at Ric's bedside.  Several friends and family came by to hug Seattle SIL and the rest of the family. It was very emotionally draining, but so overwhelming.

A core set of SIL's friends showed up at 6pm with a turkey dinner in hand.

It was one of the most amazing displays of love and compassion I've ever witnessed.  It was truly overwhelming to see these 6 or so women come off an elevator carrying so much food a small army could eat for a week.

We ate. We cried. We ate some more.  There were apologies for the pies not being homemade...we ate some more. We cried some more.

It was extremely special. These ladies made a sucky situation a Thanksgiving I will never EVER forget.  I sat at one point and looked around and thought how much BigBro would have been in the middle of all that. I have found over and over in the last 4 days that so many situations have left me a bit speechless.

In sadder news, tomorrow we will be letting BigBro go.  Sometime tomorrow afternoon we will be taking him off life support. There were several discussions today about who wants to be in the room and I gotta tell ya, I'm unsure what I'll do or where I'll be.  I'm not sure I want to be in the room when my BigBro takes his last breath.  I'm not sure I want to be anywhere else either. I am going to just decide when the moment comes. The Niece's Wife - BOB (long story why I call her Bob) most likely won't be in the room either, so there may be a reason for me to stay out too.  I'll be right outside the door, but not in the room. That might be close enough. 

I thought today how odd it was how quickly a "new normal" came about us.  It seemed so normal to be sitting in the lobby today hugging people I barely know. As we left tonight, it all became so real.  It became very real to me that by this time tomorrow night I won't have a BigBro to hug.  My life will never be the same after tomorrow.  I will find, eventually, a "new normal."

Its never easy to say goodbye

In fact, today a friend summed it up the best, "There are no words."

I've been struggling all day with saying goodbye and not wanting to really fully admit that is where we are at with BigBro. We're saying goodbye.

How do you say goodbye to a man who was bigger than life itself? Who captivated a room when he was present? Who gave the best darn bear hugs in the world?

There are no words.

And yet here we are.  Hope has been extinguished, replaced instead with a sudden and very real comprehension.

How'd we get here? What went wrong?

BigBro was scheduled to go into surgery on Monday to have permanent drains put into his lungs to help drain the fluid.  Before they could get him on the operating table he went into cardiac arrest. We lost him for 3 minutes.  CPR brought him back.

His lungs are damaged. They will never breath on their own again. He's on life support and being kept alive by machines.

He's sedated, but very much present.  He knows when someone's in the room and responds as best he can.  I'm sure he's frustrated with a tube down his throat and it won't allow him to speak. Cuz if he could speak he'd be rolling his eyes wondering what all the fuss is about.

I'll tell you what all the fuss is about, he made everyone's life brighter and better. He is that extra shake of glitter that just made it all better. He is BigBro. The man everyone knows. The man who knows no stranger. The man who stands on the street corner with a sign begging for money for a cause you're passionate about.  The man who, without a doubt, would give you the shirt off his back. The man who gave everyone something to smile about. He is my big brother.

We fuss because we love him. Because we can't imagine what life will be like without him. We have this need to express to him just how very many lives he's touched.  If ever there was a doubt that he  left a mark on this world, Facebook and the hundreds of text messages received would show him that the world loved him.

We fuss because we can. Because there's no other way we know how to be. There's no better way to show him just how much he's loved and will be so missed.

There has been no date nor time determined when we will have to say goodbye to him. It's soon. Sooner than we all ever dreamed it would be.  In the next couple of days one very bright star will be bright no longer.

I have no title

For some reason what I really wanted to write was "blank". Instead I wrote what I was thinking. 

Update on BigBro
He's still in ICU and is stable.  He's going into surgery tomorrow to have drains put in to constantly drain his lungs. This has me worried. Not the drains themselves, the surgery.  It's a 3-4 hour surgery and it scares me that he'll be under that long.  I know the drains are the right choice, and a choice I wish we never had to make. It never occurred to me that you may have two really bad options and you have to choose one.

SIL is hanging in there. She, like all of us, is scared.  She's tired and worn out emotionally.  I wish there was something I could do to help her with that, but there really isn't.

In other sad news the MomUnit lost her beloved dog Schuster today.  Sadly, she's up here and he's in Tucson.  Her good friend B was caring for Schuster and had to go through this (every dog/pet watchers nightmare, right?) MomUnit saved Schuster and his brother Simon 10 years ago. They didn't have such good lives for their first two years. Simon went to live with my brother J and Schuster stayed to live a very spoiled life with the parentunits. He had a good life. Loved and cared for like a dog should be. He was a quiet soul that had big eyes that stared into your soul.  You never knew if he was just staring at you or was sizing you up to take a chunk out of you (which he never did). He was a gentle boy who loved his people.  His tall spindle - y legs made him look like a daddy long leg spider, and he never really looked like he knew how to use all that leg.  His companion Beau (the other poodle) will likely be missing Schuster tonight.  He'll be greatly missed. RIP Schuster.

Another day

It's interesting as you face the potential loss of a loved one, that the easy phrase of "another day" really takes on a whole other meaning. BigBro did get to see "another day".  And I predict he'll continue to see more.

Last night after a tiring day, his body just had had enough. He was having a hard time breathing and starting to panic a bit about it. Ultimately, the calmed him down (with narcotics) and transferred him to ICU. In this case, to me, moving to ICU is actually a good thing. He'll get more care and more attention being there.

Today he was "better" in that he ate just a bit and was not as panicked as yesterday. He rested a good part of the day and when last I heard was "resting" again.  Rest is good at this point, and very, VERY necessary. 

Seattle SIL is holding her own. She's getting by on adrenaline I think. She really hasn't left BigBro's side - save a couple of trips home to change her clothes and check messages.  Someone has always been with BigBro to allow Seattle SIL to run home.  I'm worried about her on a whole other level.  The stress this brings on to caregivers is enormous and I'm watching her like a hawk to make sure she has everything she needs.

The love and prayers and thoughts that have bombarded our family in the past couple of days has been, to put it mildly, overwhelming.  I knew BigBro was loved, but I had no idea just how much. I'm extremely thankful for the 3Day family that has huddled together to make sure we're all ok.  Very soon I'll be taking advantage of their kindness by arranging for someone to take Seattle SIL bags of snacks. Since SIL isn't eating I figured if we could have a bag that has small bags of snack items in it, maybe she'd grab something and eat it. Graze through her day.

The MomUnit and I spent the day grocery shopping for Turkey day...well and for several items of clothing mom didn't pack - and toothpaste, and shampoo, and a brush, and socks, and...it made me wonder what was in her suitcase.

So for now, we are in a holding pattern. Waiting to see what each day will bring us.  I'm hoping for a miracle, or at least a reprieve.

Its been a hard day

So BigBro - as you all know - is fighting cancer. Started out as kidney cancer and moved to his lungs.  When we first heard, it was treatable and survivable.  I had an immense amount of hope.

Amazing how three months can change one's perspective.

He's been doing chemo treatments for I think 5 or 6 weeks now - only to find out the chemo wasn't working.  The next thing to do was put him on an oral chemo that had recently been approved by the FDA. Delay in getting the drug has meant he's not had chemo for almost two weeks now.

He's been on oxygen 24/7 for several weeks - I've lost count how many - and was feeling - I can't say good, but ok.

Monday he went in to have fluid drained from his lungs.
Thursday he went in to have fluid drained from his lungs.
Thursday night he couldn't breath.  He was having extreme difficulty, so 911 was called and he was transported to the hospital.

Since then he's not done well. Another set of scans have showed his right lung completely white. So here's what you need to know to put that in perspective. When they do a scan, healthy tissue is dark. It allows light to pass through it. None healthy tissue is white. Light cannot pass though - that's often how they see tumors. 

Anyhow, his right lung is completely white. Essentially not functioning anywhere near capacity. 

As you can imagine, he's exhausted. The constant struggle to breath must be tiring.  His spirits aren't great considering the news today.  There's a lot of decisions that need to be made, and a heavy heart has been what we've all felt today.

I've not allowed myself to go down the "what if" path during this cancer scare. I wouldn't allow myself to think about life without my brother. Sure, I know some day - way far in the future - but not now. I would prefer not ever, but I know that's not the truth.

I'm not done getting to know him. I'm not done being a sister to him. I'm not done with him. He cannot leave this world now. I need him in my life. And today, I lost hope.  I'm hoping I find it again, that we start to see some improvement and some positive sign that things will turn around. 

I didn't want to lose hope. I wanted to stay positive for him.  It was all but impossible to do that today. Tomorrow's another day, so maybe it'll dawn bright and things will turn around. A girl can hope can't she?

Finally Friday...

Its finally Friday kids. Yipee!  I had a blissfully quiet weekend planned. And all that just changed with one ring of the phone.

The MomUnit has decided she can't sit in Tucson any longer and worry about a couple of her kids.  BigBro dealing with cancer issues and Portland Brother-In-Law going into brain surgery in the next couple of weeks...the MomUnit just couldn't sit so far away any longer.

The phone rang and all I heard was, "Pick me up at the airport tomorrow at 1:30pm." Ummm ok.  So now I need to figure out what, in the next couple of weeks, if anything, do I need to change and / or shift.  Thankfully, I purposely keep the holiday season low with commitments.  People tend to do too much during this season and they miss some of the actual season. 

It'll be good to have her up here for Turkey day. We've not had Thanksgiving together for several years.... and I mean several. So that will be good.

And if she feels better and more in control by being up here around family, then so be it. I wouldn't want it any other way. BigBro might not be happy that she's come up here because of him, but too bad. 

So stay tuned, this blog might get more interesting in the next couple of days.

Probably not, but one can wish right?

If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?

I was recently asked this question and then when I started answering it I realized it wasn’t my life I wanted to change, but the life of someone I love. Which I guess indirectly is my life.

I’d change the current cancer suckedness that is going on in my brother’s life.  I would take that all away and give him his life back. There. It’s that easy. If only.

Now if I had to change something specifically about my life, what came to mind is something I can, and should, change.  I would change my eating habits … again.  I would get back on the bandwagon and start working out and eating healthy at the same time.

Right now I’m barely working out (once in a blue moon) and the same applies for eating healthy.  I do, occasionally, but not enough to get me healthy.

I was chatting with Blueberry the other day about this and I stated that I’m not sure what happened to my motivation. In 2012 I was SUPER motivated, and stayed motivated until dad died. Then when dad died, I stopped “trying” but kept myself maintained through the year.  It wasn’t until the time my jogging buddy broke her ankle that I just completely stopped trying. Why is that? Do I really need someone to hold my hand? Apparently I do.

The thing is, I see what being unhealthy does and I can feel the weight that I’ve gained back and I am pissed that I let some of it creep back on. It started with just a pound back on, then two, then a month would go by and I’d weigh myself and it was 5 lbs. Then a month and it was 10 lbs. Then just this week I weighed myself and I’ve gained back 15 lbs.  GAH!! I worked really hard to get that weight off, it seems only fair it would be as difficult to put it back on. If only, right?

So I decided that this weekend I need to come up with my plan. I need to think about and schedule time to work out. I know myself well enough that I can’t go cold turkey and just drop all the habits at once. I feel deprived and it just doesn’t work for me. So I’ll start with working out. Added to that I’ll start making smarter choices when I can. I used to ask myself all the time what was the smarter choice. Just by having that conversation with myself – it gave me pause before I would choose poorly.  I still may choose poorly, but at least it wasn’t a knee jerk reaction. Which sadly my eating habits are.

And I know I’m not alone in this. The diet and health industry wouldn’t be the billion dollar industry it was if we all choose wisely.  

So I’m going to give it the old college try. We’ll see what happens.

This isn’t exactly where I thought this blog was going when I wrote it, but here we are.  So if you could change one thing in your life right now, what would it be?

Turkey Day Prep

Thanksgiving is upon us. Just 8 days away and we'll be sitting in the living room wishing we hadn't taken that second helping and planning for dessert.  I happen to love turkey day.  I love cooking it.  And I love the leftovers.

So many people I know just dread the cooking of Thanksgiving. They think its a difficult meal, but the reality is, at least to me, it's simple. It does take planning, there's no doubt about that.  Lucky for me, I'm a planner.

Because I'm a process person, and a type A personality, and I love forms, I created a turkey day planning sheet.  Its crazy and a bit over the top, I admit, but did I mention I love forms?

The first step in planning the big day is determining who all is coming.  Once you know your guest list and people have RSVP'd, you can decide what size turkey to get.

Oddly enough the news is reporting that there's a BIG turkey shortage this year. They're saying bigger than 16lbs is going to be hard to find.  I can remember turkey days where we had a 25 pounder and/or two turkeys.  The biggest Thanksgiving I remember we had 27 people...whoa. That is a tough dinner to cook.

Anyhow, let's assume you just need a 16 pounder. The mistake many people make is  not allowing enough time for the turkey to thaw. I've done it. I had a mostly frozen turkey on Thanksgiving morning and had to figure out how to thaw it. A huge pot of cold water and a couple of hours will help.  Swapping out the water every 30 minutes helps too.

So about 3 or 4 days before, I do my grocery shopping.  I have my planner and I know what's being served by me and what's being brought by guests.  My grocery list isn't set up differently from my normal grocery list.

Off to the store.  This does two things. First it gets the task done.  Second it gives you a couple of days to make sure you have everything.  There's a chance you may have missed something, and you can run to the store before turkey day.

Day of I do a work back schedule.  I start with when I want to eat and then I work back from there to know when I need to put the turkey in. The schedule looks something like this...dinner's at 3pm.

With that plan in hand, I know I can lounge around all morning and get myself together.

See, easy.  Anyone can make a turkey dinner successfully.

Memories

Today I've been flooded with memories of grandparents for some reason. One memory leads to another that leads to another. All are good memories - even the one's in which they were grounding me. Here are some of my most favorite memories of grandparents.

Grandma Spaid
She was deaf and because of that I think she had like 8 senses.  You couldn't sneak up on her and you couldn't mouth off behind her back. She always knew. 

She would sit at her dining room table for hours on end playing solitaire. She'd win as many games as she lost.  She'd pour herself, sometimes, a small glass of boxed wine and pour out dry roasted peanuts to munch on.  You could hear her shuffling the cards all through the house.  Sometimes we'd play double solitaire and sometimes she'd let me win.

I got in trouble one day - can't even remember what I did - and she sent me to the back bedroom with a fly swatter.  I had to determine which end I wanted a spanking from.  The psychological torment I had to endure. = )

Grandpa Spaid
Always puttering in the garage.  I never knew what he was doing, but he was out in the garage doing something. Grandpa could grow the BEST tomatoes ever. We'd have so many plants and so many tomatoes.

Besides grandpa driving me around on a banana seat bike in Albuquerque, I have a couple other fond memories of grandpa.

He'd sit at the dinner table and Snoopy (one of the beagles they had) would sit right next to him on the floor. Snoopy would hop up and nip at Grandpa in the ribs.  He would jerk and giggle and say, "no Snoopy." Never really meaning it.

He taught me to eat sliced banana's with half and half and a spoon full of sugar.  He also taught me to eat cottage cheese with sugar on it.

Grandma Wraspir
The most quiet, most giving woman I ever met.  She tried to teach me how to make cinnamon rolls.  I bored easily but she was patient.  I never did really learn.

She'd sit in her chair and would say, "Now papa" every time Grandpa would start in on something with us kids.

She raised a gaggle of kids, some her's some not her's. She didn't care, she loved them all the same.

Grandpa Wraspir
Always had a story.  He could story tell like no body I ever met.  I would sit, sometimes, and listen to him. Often I'd get to tired of listening to his stories and would wander off.

Grandpa let me drive the car (before I was supposed to be driving) to the post office almost every day. This was before the mail boxes got moved to the actual houses.

I loved all my grandparents and miss them horribly. I'd love to spend just one more day talking to them and asking them questions about their childhood. I wish I could help the younger folk of today how important those stories will be to them as they age.

Giving

Thanksgiving is upon is. Just over a week away now.  It is my second favorite holiday (following Halloween).  Facebook is busy with all sorts of friends doing the 30 days of Thanks. Basically every day telling the world what you're thankful for. It's an opportunity to really think about what you've got and be thankful for it.

I think there's a second have to the holiday the giving part. The holidays are a great time to think about what you're doing to give to those less fortunate. 

60Minutes did a special on The Giving Pledge.  This is the program Warren Buffett and The Gates came up with to ask the wealthiest of people to give away half their wealth.  These are billionaires who have pledged to give away half... HALF of their wealth.

I was looking at the list of those who have signed this pledge and am impressed with the  names on it. Further I'm impressed with what half of all their wealth means. That's an extraordinary amount of money to give to a cause. And their causes are worthy.

This time of year I re-evaluate my own giving campaign. I have an allotted amount of money a year I'm happy to give to a cause. A good portion of that goes to the Breast Cancer 3 Day.  The other amounts go to some local animal shelters.  Yet every year I take a look at where else I could give my donations

I am, by no means, talking about the amount of money the billionaires club is, and I know I could probably give even more. I like to think, though, that my little donation makes a difference.  And that's what it's all about. Every little bit helps.  My small donation could be the one that puts an organization over the top in finding a cure to cancer. Or it could be the donation that means an animal shelter stays open another year.  Either way, I'm happy to give.

I wish I would have been more giving in my younger years.  I was barely able to keep myself from going into significant debt (and I was living beyond my means).  Still I gave a little every now and then, but nothing planned or organized.  Now, I'm thankful to be in a place to give on a regular basis.  When I'm retired and living on the street, I'll still be glad I gave to organizations in need.

My other giving that I do this year is to food banks.  I truly think food banks need our help year round and I really should be giving to them year round, but truthfully I forget.  Every time I go grocery shopping I buy those already put together bags of groceries for $10.  I figured through the two months I probably end up donating about $100 of groceries. But again, that $100 can make a huge difference to some families.

So while you're giving thanks for what you have this Thanksgiving season, take some time to do a little giving too. You never know who you'll save.

Living Room Make over

It's done. It's been 5 years in the making and its done.

I've never been happy with the way the living/dining room has been put together. It's never felt cohesive or put together.

The room is difficult to arrange. Part of it is a "formal" dining room and the other part the living room.   I decided when I moved in that the "formal" dining room would become the living room squared. It just made no sense to use it as a dining room, I already had one in the kitchen.

The room is longer than it is wider and one wall is ALL windows. It gets great lighting regardless of the weather - which is good for Seattle people.  The other side is split in half by the hallway to the kitchen. So arranging the furniture is challenging.

I hired a young interior designer to come in and help me figure it out. Her suggestions were simple and easy to execute:

1. Rearrange - giving me specifics
2. Paint the fireplace wall with an accent color
3. Put up curtains

She later came over with paint samples and curtain samples. I followed her lead with the rearranging and paint yet deviated slightly with the curtains.  Her suggestions for the curtains were awesome, but I went the less expensive route.

 

Sadly I didn't take any "before" pictures like an idiot. I had planned to and thought I had, but I sure can't find them.  I have photos of the painting process but that's not very interesting.

All in all I'm extremely happy. I love having curtains - as do the kittens. They both helped tremendously - not. Linus in particular loves the curtains. He likes to hide behind them and then attack sister.  One of the curtain panels sits above the heat register, when the heat goes on it moves the curtain and that's game on for Linus.

My next step is new furniture. I really want a chocolate brown couch and pattern matching chairs.  I don't need new furniture, but really want it.  I figured in a year I'll have new furniture.  It'll take me that long to figure out what exactly I want. 

So I'm done for now. It was quite the learning lesson when it comes to hanging curtains, but it was a relatively inexpensive make over and one that really made it feel more homey in here.

Can't wait for the next Sunday dinner to show it off.

The Elderly

Well I completely missed yesterday and almost missed today. This writing every day is hard. But at least I'm trying, right?

This is my grandpa Spaid.  I barely know him. I mean I knew him, but I don't know him at all. I couldn't tell you what he did for a living. I couldn't tell you what his favorite color was or what his favorite food was.  I know he like to tinker in the garage, and I know he drove me around on a banana seat bike in Albuquerque some hundred years ago.

What I wouldn't give to be able to have a conversation with him or any of my grandparents now. The elderly really are lost on children.  The questions I would ask any of my grandparents as an adult are plentiful.

What was your first memory?
What was your first love like?
What was your first car?
Did you go to college? What did you study?
What did you do for fun in high school?
Where did you travel? Where did you want to travel?

And the list goes on and on.  When I was young and I spent time with the grandparents I didn't want to know those boring old stories. And today, I'd give anything to sit and chat with any of them.

I think about, too often, what they would think of the world today.  If we plucked them out of the time in history when they were, say in their 30's, and put them in today's world. What would they think? Would they be sad for us? Or would they marvel at the technology? Would they get headaches from all the information thrown at you? Or would they take it all in?

Its dawned on me recently that while we may "know" our family members, do we really "know" them? Do you know what you're brother's favorite color is? Or your mom's first car? So many questions. So many stories. I need to start asking those questions.

An Early Start

I've been waiting to blog until I'm ready for bed (and hopefully something exciting will happen by then) and I usually get to tired to blog.

Today I'm breaking that pattern and writing early. You're so lucky.

Since I started this new job back in August I've been trying to get my PM muscle to work again.  Not doing traditional PM work for three years made me a bit rusty. So I started rereading a few books I had to get me back into PM mode.

Then I stumbled onto this book on Amazon called the Project Management Memory Jogger. It's a little pocket guide and it gives you the briefest of reminders and tips and tricks.  I got it yesterday and sat down and read the entire book.  It's a 200 page book that's about the size of a 3 by 5 card.  Easy read and it sure helped flex that muscle again. 

My current manager is strong minded when it comes to PM work.  She's so involved in the details and she is so knowledgeable that she sees things I don't see.  I feel a bit inadequate when she shows mentions a risk that I missed.  Feeling that way is what prompted me to find a quick reference guide.

Rereading all the information about the phases really unlocked the PM vault in my noggin.

That coupled with answering PM questions for the classes of the Pantry Goat.  I've been answering their PM questions for about a week now and I love every minute of it. They are asking some very good questions and I am doing my best to be as honest with them as I can. They're young, potential PMs and are like deer in headlights.  I've been trying to explain to them that real life is not at all like the classroom environment. Thankfully.

In other non-related PM news, my living room is almost complete. I should get the last of the curtains in the mail today and get them hung. Once that's done, and I swap out the other curtain rod, I'll take photos. Cuz I know you're dying to see it.

Oy

Minimum blog requirement tonight. Sorry folks, I'm beat today and can't think of anything witty and intelligent to type tonight.

You're Gonna Hear me Roar...

Yes, Katy Perry is stuck in the noggin tonight/day/week.  I heard this song tonight on the way back from dinner and I said, out loud, "I sure haven't felt like I wanna roar in some time."

That's an interesting statement to me. I couldn't figure out where that had come from. I didn't think I felt that way. But alas, I think my inner self had something it wanted me to think about and so spewed forth.

It's true I haven't felt so fantastic in the job front lately. I keep missing things that I shouldn't miss. And I hate that the boss brings them up and looks at me wondering how I could have missed it. I need to really focus again. I half wonder if it's because of working at home. Not having the stimulus of hallway conversations, or the actual "going to work" process to keep you on a regular schedule.  I need to noodle on this a bit more before I put a fork in it and call it just a rambling of some old fart.

Speaking of old farts, tonight was our monthly dinner club with the landlords. Mr. Landlord had a birthday yesterday and I wasted no time reminding him just how much older he is from me.  With a smile of course. He said he feels no older than he did on Sunday.

We went to a Puerto Rican place here in Redmond called La Isla. I've been there a couple of times

Logo courtesy of La Isla

and have had fantastic food. The first time having a Cuban...oh that was a religious experience. The second time I had Ropa Vieja - another experience to be sure. Tonight, not so much. I had their bistec something or other and the steak had the texture of a piece of meat that had marinated in an acid too long.  You know what I mean right? The meat just had this not quite right texture. Flavor wasn't there either.  I had it with a side of garlic and butter shrimpees.  I should have taken a photo because the amount of garlic on these four poor shrimpees was insane.  The taste and flavor was there, but the shrimpees were over cooked.  Chewy and rubbery. Needless to say I wasn't impressed this time.  If/when I go back, I'll stick to the Cuban or the Ropa Vieja.

Project Management by any other name is herding cats

Its true. Managing projects can be directly correlated to herding cats. I thought I had all my cats together in a nice pin only to find out one escaped.

I consider myself a good PM. I am best at planning and not so great at the execution phase. I tend to lose interest in this phase because the PM doesn't do much but watch the schedule...at least its been my experience. So sometimes during the execution phase I get lazy. And lazy almost always means a cat escapes.

A cat escaped today. And I had to scramble to get the cat back with the rest of the herd.  It was not a fun day in that regards.

In other non PM related work, I put the living room mostly back together. I still need to hang three curtain rods: two will be easy by myself, the third one will take me and a small army.  I'll get that done this weekend - hopefully. Then my new  living room will be ready for all. I can 100 % guarantee there will be photos posted here.

One of my goals this year was an outlandish goal to read 53 books. That's one a week. Last year I read somewhere in the mid-40's so I figured I could do this. I'm a couple books behind and I really don't think I'm going to make it. But dang it I'm gonna give it the old college try (where on earth did that phrase come from?)

In my attempt to read 53 books I included that at least 5 of them had to be what I call "worthy" books as in not a romance novel, vampire novel, or any other teeny bopper book series I find myself reading.  Two of those needed to be PM books so I can add them to my PMP on going education profile. I'm 6 weeks out from the end of the year and have YET to read the two PM books.  I just ordered two from the library so I can get myself started. My luck they'll both be 1000 pages long.

Speaking of long books, this month's book club selection is from Blueberry (side note: Blueberry broke her toe this weekend while helping me paint. Its a long story and only Blueberry could break a toe while painting.). She picked The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I've read this book. I read it a couple of years ago. And it's a long book.  I got the book from the library and started reading...and it's as if I never read it. I swear it feels like a new story to me.  I wonder if I should be worried about my memory. But then I figured maybe the book didn't warrant me remembering. yah, that's it.

Ok. I've done my daily blogging and now I've got to go read. TTFN.

November Sunday Dinner

So this month's Sunday dinner was different than normal. No one could really make it except Blueberry. So we decided to make a day of it.

She came over early, we had breakfast and we came home and painted my living room wall.  I've been wanting to make some changes and painting was an easy update.  So she edged and I rolled.

You can't really tell the color so well in this photo, I'll get more later this week when I have the place put back together. Painting is sure a process.

While we were painting I had ribs in the oven.  I was making my favorite Smokey Indoor Ribs. Our plan was to take dinner to BigBro and Seattle SIL.  He's still battling the chemo/cancer/oxygen thing so we figured if we brought him dinner he wouldn't have to move.

So Blueberry and I finished painting, finished putting the ribs together, loaded them, the mac salad, ice cream and potato salad into the car and off we went.

It was good. I mean finger licking good.  It was nice to get caught up with BigBro and SSIL - a true Sunday dinner.

Nearly Speechless Saturday

I know, it's actually Sunday, but this blog is going to count for yesterday. I did it, just didn't hit the publish button.

My plan was to just post a photo - taking a page from BeagleBabes "Wordless Wednesday". Because I forgot to hit publish I now have to explain it's for Saturday and well, this isn't very speechless.

Who? Me?

Oh George

Look at me .. 8 days of continuous blogging. Weird.

So today I had a very odd experience that has had me thinking all afternoon.  First I walked over to the gym, which is, by itself, amazing. But on my way home I was thinking about stopping for a coffee. My mind was else where, but I noticed an older gentleman across the street just sitting in his wheel chair. I glanced over and didn't register right away that something might be wrong. But you know when you see something and it takes your mind like a second longer to register?  Yah, that's what happened.

I noticed this gentleman with his head down and slumped over in his chair. He looked like he was sleeping. Beyond that though he didn't have a jacket on. And that's what got me looking a second time. Something wasn't right. So I went across the street to check it out.

The man did appear to be sleeping. I shook him to see if I could wake him up. Nothing. So I dialed 911.  All I could think of was I hope he's not dead.

911 dispatched the EMTs. They pulled over, hopped out of their rig and one of them said, "Oh George." Clearly they knew this guy.

Apparently George escapes from a care facility up the street on a regular basis.  He's not really working mentally at full capacity and often just leaves and gets lost. Scary! The EMTs said he doesn't usually go too far and they do generally track him down.  Again, scary. 

The got George talking, mumbling really, and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. The EMT thanked me for calling and said most people wouldn't have.

And you know, I think he's right. We're often so caught up in our every day lives that we may not even bother.  I just think what would I want to have done if it were my dad, or anyone I know and love.  I'd want someone to stop.

I recently read or heard that there's a phenomenon that often happens during accidents, crimes etc.  No one does anything because they think someone else will. That has got to stop. We have got to start looking out for each other. Trusting each other. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a good truster when it comes to someone I don't know offering to help me, but I think I need to learn to let that go and just trust people are good.

I'm sure George is a good person and would appreciate a person helping out.

The Curtains are in

I totally feel like a grown up now. I have curtains. And they look good.  I'm surprised at how different it makes the room feel. But they're up and now I just have to decide on a paint color. Mrs. Landlord was over tonight and veto'd the color I wanted, so now I have to settle for something else.  Which is fine. I don't own this place, so I guess it seems fair.

In other news, can someone tell me what cats INSIST on putting their toys in their water dish?  Its been going on since the kittens moved in.  For some reason this week it's happening more and more.  Almost hourly I can walk into the kitchen and there will be two or more dead toys floating hopelessly in the water dish.

I, of course, searched the interwebs for answers.

One site suggests that cats do this as a claim of territory.  By placing a toy in their water, the cat is claiming it as their possession because it is within their territory.

Another suggests its security. "Some cats have the urge to secure their toys in an area they consider safe, which relates to the desire of wild cats to secure their prey from other predators. Because they see their water dish as their territory, they consider it a safe location for storing important items, such as their toys."  Huh. Who knew?

Yet another site suggested they were seeking attention. Um, I'm pretty sure my two cats are not seeking attention. They get more than enough and if they say otherwise, they're lying.

None of the sites offered any suggestions to stop this behavior. It really doesn't bother me they do it. Its just that the toys are so gross after spending hours drowning...oh hey maybe they're drowning their prey. 

Right. I'm off to bed, and likely off to rescue another toy mouse from the waterbowl.

A List by any other name is still a list

I think I've mentioned before, but I'm a list maker. Sometimes I have lists for my lists. 

Along with being a list maker, I'm also a prolific note taker - especially at work.  I carry a notebook around with me that I jot things down in and may or may not go back to it. But it's there should I need to "remember" someday.  Especially as I get older I've noticed I tend to write more down then before. Writing stuff down helps me remember - its a win win.

BeagleBabe recently sent me this link for the Bullet Journal.  Given my type A personality, my prolific not taking, and my love for lists, I fell in love with this idea. Go ahead. Go take a look. I'll wait.

You may not have been as awestruck as I was, but let me fill you in on what I've now done with this bullet journal idea.

The idea in general, I love.  Unfortunately, I'm not as busy of a person as one might need to be for this process to be useful - at least in my personal life. AND I'm a big fan of Microsoft OneNote for work and didn't want to carry around a notebook with notes, but use OneNote instead.

So I modified OneNote and it's tagging to be kinda like the bullet journal idea.  OneNote already has predefined tags for things like a check list (check box), a question (question mark) and something important (red exclamation mark).  A little poking around in OneNote and I found that you can modify these tags, and add tags they already have. So I went to work.

I took the Bullet Journal's basic ideas of bullets for events, information, tasks. That was the easy part. The part that was more difficult was the "moving a task forward" tag. But alas, OneNote has a ton of tags and I found an arrow pointing right that would suffice. Here's what I ultimately ended up with as my top 9 tags.

I also changed my monthly project list / sync with the boss layout.  Previously I had a table in OneNote that listed all my projects down the left side. Then in a column to the right of each project I would write notes based on my sync with the boss.  I've discovered that having dates associated with notes were needed. My boss would frequently ask when we chatted about something and without any date indicators I had no idea. I have a list for each month, so I could tell her a month, but not a specific date.

So I modified my table slightly. I now have the dates of our syncs down the left side. Across the top I have a column for each project/task/discussion point.  During each sync I make sure I write out what our conversation was, my actions based on that and any other details I may need.  Let's say, for example when discussing the budget today she says, "I'd like you to review the budget with me on X date." I can now go to the cell that is the budget and the date and put myself a note that says to prep to speak to the boss about the budget.

Here's a small example.

I've used this for a month now and it has gone a long ways with keeping me focused, on task, and efficient.

I know that organization is extremely personal.  What works for me won't work for everyone, but I thought I'd share my new process in case it can/does help someone.

Now, I can scratch writing today's blog off my list.

Happy Birthday Mom

 

That's mom and me.  Aren't we cute? 

Today's Mom's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is, but suffice it to say she's still quite young.

 

This is Mom and her mom when her mom brought my mom home.  That was a few years ago. She's grown a bit since then. Grown into a great mom. A caring mom. A loving mom. The best mom.

 

If only we were that skinny now!  And wow...do we look alike?

 

I've discovered through the years that my friendship with my mother is something I should be very thankful for. I have so many friends that don't have relationships with their moms. And never really talk to their moms.  I couldn't imaging not talking to my mom every day or every other day. We're best friends.  She's who I turn to when I need advice and I'm who she turns to when she needs the same.  The older I get the more our advice has sounded the same.

 

So here's to you mom. Happy Birthday! Here's to another 66 years. (oops)

Daily Blogging...oy vei

So this blogging every day for the month of November is difficult and it's only the 4th day!  I have (quickly doing the math) 26 more days to write. I'd better get cracking on ideas.

Blogging, originally, started because I lost a bet. I had anticipated I would write this blog thing for a couple of months and be done with it. It's been just over 8 years. EIGHT years. How on earth have I found anything remotely interesting to write about for 8 years?

I'm a reader of blogs too. I read many, many blogs.  And of all types of topics. Most of the blogs I read are focused on a topic. Some, like mine, are just general writing about what's what in the life of a blogger. (nd I use the term "blogger" loosely.  I have an interest in the blogs that are a specific focus and I marvel that these bloggers can write daily about one topic.  I tend to have too much ADD and can't focus on one topic...oh look a butterfly.

I have documents upon documents started with blogging ideas. Most are my rantings and ravings aren't really worth a blog, but writing them out does make me feel well. There are some that I'd like someday to bring forth into this blog, but today's not that day.

I like that blogging also helps me remember when I do what.  On more than one occasions I've had to search the blog for a date for something I've done.  Thankfully the important stuff is usually written about.

The other thing I used this blog for is to reminisce. I sometimes like to go back and read what I was doing several years ago at a specific time. For example, what was I doing in 2006 on Nov 4th? Curious aren't you?

Well look at that, I've written another blog about blogging about nothing. I'm so good at this. I should keep it up.

Picking Paint is hard

I am not an Interior Designer. Far from it. I can match scrapbook paper and embellishments with the best of them, but beyond that - its the reason I wear black pants every day. Easy to match.

The Interior Designer gave me two options for paint. One a cool and one a warm neutral brown. Both look so different in the different lights the living room gets. During full sunshine I like the cool brown better. During the over cast I like the warm.

Blueberry was over yesterday and thought that neither would look good on the full wall nor would it make the fire place pop like it should. So she looked at the color swatches and talked me into going to get a sample of the next darker shade of the warm colors. Its called Portebello. Which is good cuz I like me some portebellos.

We put it on the wall and both determined we thought it was the best shade.  I think I'm sold.

Photo taken from the Internet

This isn't my room, but it's basically the color. I really like it and can't wait to paint.  I plan on painting next Saturday - then Sunday is Sunday dinner. The great unveiling of the new rearranged living room and the newly painted wall.  Maybe, if I'm lucky, the curtains will be here too. 

In other news, I've started searching for hotels in Rome for our cruise next April. OMG...there are so many.  I think it's still a better idea for me to go through a travel agent to find a hotel and airfare for me - hopefully they'll know more than me.

A Curtain Tale

I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I've hired an Interior Designer. She's a young gal just starting out and is inexpensive.  Anyhow, she and I have chatted a couple of times and she's provided me with some color ideas for painting the living room.

When she first came to my place she was amused immediately by the kittens.  It took us an hour to just get to my wants.  My big problem is my living room is designed to be a living room and formal dining room.  The thing is, I have too much living room furniture to have two separate rooms...AND I don't need a formal dining room. So, I've opted to make it one big, long living room. 

To add difficulty to the long room, one wall sorta juts out a bit.  So its not a straight line, which makes rearranging difficult.  I've rearranged it a couple of different ways but never really felt comfortable.

The ID made some great suggestions and I took her up on it.  Last Monday Mrs. Landlord helped me rearrange and I love it.  It feels a bit more homey and connected. 

So 1 for the ID.

The second thing she suggested is to paint the wall my fireplace is on a darker color. I've chosen neutrals because I'm not quite that bold when it comes to color.  She gave me two options and I loved them both.  Then Blueberry came over and when looking at the color card she liked a shade darker than the one I already have a sample of on my wall. So off we went to Home Depot today for a sample...and I love it.  The ID may not approve, but I like it.

The third thing she suggested was curtains.  I'm not a fan of curtains generally speaking, but I'm also not a fan of blinds - which is what I have now. You can't clean them no matter how hard you try. So curtains it is. 

I didn't want the old ugly curtains that have a pull string to them. I like the newer looking ones that have huge grommets that slide through a pole.  So Mrs Landlord, Blueberry and I went to Jacque Pennies today (JC Penny's in case you missed that) and we found some great curtains. AND they were on sale.  They're on their way now.

Now all I've got to do is paint and then hang curtains and finally, I hope anyhow, this place will feel a bit more cozy. Photos of before and after, of course, to follow. Though I forgot to take photos of how this place was arranged before I rearranged it. Too bad...

Don't forget to fall back tonight. One extra hour of sleep. Woo Hoo.

Day 1 of blogging every day in November

Stop laughing. I'm going to give it a try and see if I can (as the Patron Saint said) "stretch my blogging muscle" and see if I can get back into the swing of it. 

It can't possibly be a lack of interesting things happening in my life.  THAT is for sure.

I can tell you what I have no new updates about:
1. Relationship status
2. Cats
3. cooking stuff

What I do have to tell you, ain't all that happy.

The MomUnit called last night to let me know my brother-in-law is in the hospital after having a seizure at the doctor's office.  After a CAT scan they found a mass in his brain. As of the conversation last night, that was all we knew.

Today we know its an arteriovenous malformation. Yah I had to look it up too. Its basically something he was born with - and one never knows until something happens (again I say, I think I need to go get a full body scan). Anyhow, it's basically a tangle of arteries and veins. It affects how much blood and oxygen the brain gets.  It sounds serious, but not life threatening to me. They'll do surgery to remove it and THAT is serious. To me anytime you start messing with the brain and a sharp knife ... it's serious.

BigBro seems to be getting by. He's now finished 4 chemo treatments and it seems to be getting worse before it gets better. Seattle SIL said that apparently that's how it goes when cancer is in the lungs.  Great. Last time I saw him his spirits were just ok.  He's not his normal self (who would be) but I'm hoping he fights this with every fiber of his being.

In exciting news, I selected my excursions (and paid for them) for our cruise in April. I can't WAIT for this cruise. It's definitely a once in a life time type of cruise and I'm planning on taking full advantage of it.

Don't be jealous...

I need to start doing some research on our stops and really decide if these are what I want to do.  According to Norwegian I can change these on the boat if I feel I want to. I doubt I will, but one never knows.

Okay...I'm outty for now. Gonna head home and finish out the work day with the kittens and a big cup of coffee.

Happy Dia de los Muertos everyone!!