« September 2004 | Main | November 2004 »
Well, Daddy reports she is feeling better. She says she is going to be going home in a few days; U. Gene says that they will be moving her to the rehab section of the hospital where she will be for the next three weeks. The latter makes more sense. I guess we will just wait and see what happens. If that is the case, then U. Gene will only be there for about a week after she gets home from the hospital.
I talked to U. Gene last night and he said she would be there a week, so I'm not sure if that means she will be staying over the weekend or not.
I talked to Gramma today. She says she is in a world of pain, but she is sure that it will pass. The doctor had talked about sending her home, but her physical therapist is helping her stay in the hospital to heal at least one more day. U. Gene wanted to bring Grampa to visit, but Grampa didn't want to come, but couldn't understand why Gramma wasn't home. Poor Grampa is surprised each time that he hears that Gramma has to have or has had surgery.
I talked to Gramma yesterday and she was in good spirits. She is sore from the surgery, but admitted that there were things that she could do now that caused her pain before. She had been up and around the day of the surgery, and again yesterday. I asked her if they had started to talk about sending her home yet, and she said, no, not yet. She also mentioned that the doctor, the hospital, the social worker (I'm not sure which of these) felt that she would need some help at home, so that is going to happen, much to Gramma's relief. I will talk to her again today and let you know how it is going.
Gramma is back in her room, but when we called there was no answer so we think she may still be sleeping things off. She will be coming home either Wednesday or Thursday. She seems to be doing well, but this message is third hand and has gone through all three of the Dornbrook brothers, so is subject to communicator 'noise'. Maybe receiver 'noise', too. If you wish to call her tomorrow, her phone number is 1-216-957-3725 and the phones are on between 8 am and 9 pm.
Daddy called me about an hour ago to tell me that Gramma's surgery is over and that she is in the recovery room. There was little or no bleeding, which is a good thing. Just keeping you posted. I will let you know of any developments as I hear of them. Keep her in your prayers, as I know you (who pray) have been.
The package has arrived . . .
Dear ange,
Thank you for the lemon curd. And your record is way better than Nae's. I love him dearly, but I never expect anything from him. I just take him as he is.
(I was tryign to make the message look like a code. I really just meant thank you.)
He isn't even a former Marine . . .
He is a Veteran Marine.
An ex-Marine is one who has been dishonorable discharged, a former Marine is a deceased Marine. Nathan is a veteran Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
I learned these things from the husband of one of our student workers. He is an Army recruiter. I also learned that Boot Camp is strictly a Marine term and that the Army calls its training Basic.
Yes, it is over. . . really over.
The Women's Center had their annual (third) fundraiser on Friday. It has been consuming me for the last three months, to the exclusion of all else, except I have still been responsible for all else too. Gloria was kind enough to arrange my classes for me because I just couldn't do both.
Anyway, we cleared over $13,000! That is a remarkable sum of money. Not all of it came from one evening, of course. Merry had solicited over $6,000 in sponserships before we started. We also sold raffle tickets at Lakeland that raised about $1500 before the event.
So maybe now I will have time for something else?
Yes, it's over . . . until next year.
Yes, there is a new me! Did I have an extreme make-over? No, something even more drastic . . .
I was in Gloria's office. That is to say in the back of the rabbit warren we call the Women's Center. Most of you are familiar with the layout of the Women's Center, but to refresh your memory . . . First the outer office, then "my" office, turn left and into Merry's office, keep going and you are in Gloria's office. We flow pretty much from one room to the next, in and out. I was talking to Gloria about the fund raiser which is Friday night. I have been the person in the office taking responsibility for this show, but Gloria is a good resource and was helping me make sure I had all those pesky last minute details nailed down. A student wandered in, looking for me, but not knowing my name. I had pledged $5 to her for a(nother) fund raising walk.She and Merry tried to figure out who she was looking for. Here is how the conversation went:
Merry: Hi, may I help you? (or something close to that)
Student: Hi, I'm looking for the woman who sits here (referring to my chair).
Merry: Stephanie?
Student: Maybe, . . . the elderly one.
So, I am now officially elderly. And before you jump to my defense and say, Oh, the student was how old? 16?, no, she wasn't. I think she is in her middle/late thirties. Now that still gives me almost 20 years on her, but the joke's on her. She has no idea how fast those intervening years are going to pass.
And, yes, I know it is my gray hair that does it to me, but I am not going to dye it. I feel that right now when people look at me, they may focus on my gray hair, but that is better than focusing on how old I look because I have wrinkles and bags under my eyes. Yes, I have those too, but the sun glinting off my silver hair blinds people to the wrinkles.
Pardon me while I go lie down. It's been a long day.
Yes, I do have good news! You probably think that all I do is complain about how horrible things are, but there has been a development in the Gramma and Grampa saga that is a win-win-win!
Gramma's has been given a date for her surgery of Oct 25th, which is a whole month before Thanksgiving. Good thing #1. Good thing #2: U. Gene is going to stay until Thanksgiving. What a relief. He was originally going to leave this weekend so that means extending his stay by six weeks or so. This leads to the other wins. Grampa is not going to go to the nursing home while Gramma has her surgery and Gramma is going to pay U. Gene to care for them. This saves Gramma some big bucks, while infusing some much needed dollars into the Argentinian economy. I feel so relieved. I was actually quite worried about how Gramma was going to manage by herself.
And I talked with Nae yesterday. He is still alive and well. He was at a Scottish version of a barn dance. He said what it was called, but I couldn't quite hear him, so I am not sure. He sounded good. I expect to be hearing from him again soon in our blogs.
and I am a fruitaholic.
Yes, it's true. I am addicted to fresh fruit. I eat at least three servings a day, more if I can get it. I will eat dried fruit. If I'm desperate, I will even eat commercial applesauce. I have (and here I blush with shame) eaten . . . canned fruit. Embarrassing, but true. If I don't have a peice of fruit or can't see one saved for my next meal, I start to feel sort of panicky, anxious, the way I remember Popop getting when his cigarette supply was running low.
What brought me to the point of admitting my powerlessness over my addiction? Last Sunday, I awoke to a house with no fruit in it -- entirely my fault since I do the majority of the grocery shopping. It was 7 am and I had to be somewhere by 8:15. It was dark out and only 44 degrees. I went outside in my bathrobe and was picking raspberries in the dark. (I will pause here for a moment while you think about the implications of picking raspberries by feel.)
I knew I had hit bottom and needed help. I mean, eating ants just to get to the raspberries was bad enough, but felt like an isolated incident, even though it had happened more than once.
But where to turn for help? Surely, I am the only person in the world afflicted with this particular addiction. I will go and ponder this question while I eat my breakfast. Just cereal, no raspberries today. Anyway, I already ate my pear.
I made my very first Risotto, or is it rissoto? Risotto looks better to me, so that is what I am going to stick with.
You may think that quite backwards of me to have never made risotto, but I had never eaten risotto before. It didn't really sound very appealing since I had spent a long time cooking rice so that each kernel would be individual and separate from the others. Then I was at Heidi's last week and she made a risotto for supper. It was good, not all gluey and gooey as I had imagined. I mean, how could it be bad, really? So when I was at Trader Joe's today (yes, they have even come to Cleveland), I bought some of the special short grained rice. I can't remember what it is called. Abrizzo? Something like that. And we had eggplant in the garden. (Boy, do we have eggplant, and really beautiful eggplant too! I used to think the only thing you could do with eggplant was to deep fry it. I have learned many things since. . . )
Anyway, I made risotto con whatevereggplantisinItalian, only I changed the recipe because I didn't use the white wine and I didn't have any fresh mozzella. Too bad, but it was pretty good anyway. And very low sodium. Daddy and I have majorly changed our cooking and eating habits. I am afraid that some of you might no longer enjoy eating here as much, but we are going to be so healthy that we will live to a ripe old age.
Yes! It's true! For pictures, continue reading!
View image
Who knows? Maybe my next grandchild will be a mammal.