No Mom Stories Tonight

I had much too good a day to ruin it with mom stories. First service at church was a bit emotional for me - but I had a chat with God during communion (He's agreed to help me out - He's pretty amazing that way!). Unfortunately I was so not with it that I couldn't really enjoy the new contemporary service to its fullest extent - so am looking forward to next Sunday. Got my act together for second service - since I was liturgist and had the opportunity to help serve communion - what a blessing it was to do that. And then I spent the rest of the day at the Happiest Place on Earth with some very dear friends - and I just had a wonderful time with all of them - and the kids were such blessing - it really meant a lot to me that Lani wanted to sit on my lap on the train and during Fantasmic. It was just a great time and I look forward to our next visit - unfortunately, Teyo, it won't be tomorrow or the next day. When I got home - there were two messages and my first thought was - it's been such a great day - what is my mom calling to complain about or accuse me of tonight (God Bless Her) - but one was a wrong number and the other was from my other pea - leaving a rambling message - just like I've done on her phone so many times before - and it did make me laugh. It was a good day.

Ilizabett

Just a quick hit tonight - will have more mom stories tomorrow - the wounds are a little too fresh at the moment. And a shout out to my dinner pals - always nice to get together with you to take my mind off of life in general! So two things I wanted to share... first about the cat - anyone that says that cats are a lousy pet because they are so independent and don't have as good a personality as dogs - obviously has never had a cat. Sadie is a love who makes me laugh and even talks back to me - all the time! And the other thing... with a last name like mine - I'm used to people getting it wrong when they try to spell it - but Elizabeth - how difficult is that - I understand people spelling it with an s - however - Friday at Starbucks my name was Elizareth and my all time favorite came from Rubio's recently - Ilizabett - classic!

And She Had To Bring It Up...

So I wake up this morning - not to the lovely sound of music or birds singing - but the cat hacking! Yes, little Miss Lady Licks A Lot hacked up a hairball for me - and she really has a knack for doing it in the most traveled areas of the house. For those of you that don't know - little Miss Sadie has a licking fetish - very obsessive about it - she's a bit of a freak - just like her mom (the freak part, not the licking part). Ended up going in late to work this morning - although I wasn't teaching today so there really wasn't a set time I needed to be there - I woke up later than I had planned - I spent some time on the computer - looked up the blog of the pioneer woman - Hilarious! And, of course, I go into the bedroom right before I leave and find Sadie all stretched out on her window seat - had to get a picture and share - it almost kept me home today - all I could think about was stretching out and napping on the couch. So I finally wandered out the door and thought that I would call my mom - haven't talked to her in a couple of days - will see how she is doing. She never sounds very good when she first picks up the phone - but I always start out upbeat - as we talked she sounded good - I was feeling good about the conversation and we were just about to hang up - and she had to bring it up... "You or John need to make me a dental appointment because my tooth is oozing" - maybe I should have left the phone unplugged! I just don't know what to do with her - God Bless Her! I think I will take her in one more time to get her teeth cleaned - she's due for that and then anytime she wants another appointment - I'll tell her to call John because I know she won't! God help us both!

The Difficult Child

So I'm on a roll - so will post again - as addicting as this can be to read - I know a couple of you are stalking me! :) It is very addicting to write as well - I started this because I thought it might be theraputic in dealing with my mom and I was asked recently if it is - and I think it has been - it makes me look for the funny things I can share and the good moments. So yesterday morning I had to take my mom in for some bloodwork and did it early in the morning before I went to work - I thought about calling my mom on the way to pick her up - but for whatever reason I didn't - which as it turns out was just as well... So when I get to her place she is still getting dressed and I get to hear about how she was up earlier and then went back to sleep (I get to hear it about four more times). So as she is getting ready - I notice that her daily calendar is missing. So I ask her what happened to it and she says "I decided not to use it" - great, she had trouble figuring out what day it was when she did have it - and now she has made that all important decision not to use it! No wonder she thought it was August 7 earlier this week. Note to self - get her another calendar - QUICK! Then I notice that the telephone is unplugged - no wonder the answering machine didn't pick up the other day - and I guess it didn't really matter that I didn't call in the morning. I told her that she couldn't decide not to use the telephone - that wasn't an option. God Bless Her! So I'm talking to my friend, Cindy, last night and I hear her 2 year old in the background just screaming and I joke with her that I was that type of kid - "the difficult child" I think is what my mother used to say - in fact that's probably one of the things she still remembers! And I'm telling Cindy that my mom used to tell me that she hoped that I would have a child just like me. And Cindy says - "You do, your mom!" Yeah - who's the difficult child now?! I think that is about all for now - had a nice 4th - stayed close to home and got together with a few friends for dinner. Very low key and relaxing. Hope you all had a happy and fun and safe 4th. Until next time...

H2O

I know, I know... I haven't posted in a couple of days! So I wanted to get at least a little something up tonight - in case I don't get to all I want to talk about just yet. The cat is laying in front of the monitor with her tail swishing on the keyboard - makes it interesting to try to type! Anyway... I forgot to tell a story about Sea World last weekend - so thought I would include it now and also experiment a little with putting pictures in the blog. I was trying to put two pictures in - but for the moment it doesn't seem to be working - so will stick with this one at the moment and figure it all out later. This is Shamu - in case you were wondering. So we were sitting and waiting for one of the shows to start and the preshow guy comes out with his guitar and starts singing some songs - he asks the audience to yell out the chemical formula for water - and the kid in front of us yells "AGUA"! Nice.

I AM Your Daughter

My blog was looking a bit boring - so thought I would share this picture of Sadie - I caught her reading my blog earlier this evening - I think I shared before that this has become one of her favorite places to be - usually she likes to stand in front of the monitor - so this is a bit unusual that she was laying down - and I keep my desk like my house - a mess! Even though in the Network class at church I was classified as a Structured People person - I like piles - not files for all of my stuff! And here comes the little one now - luckily she has found some paper to chew on in at the corner of my desk. Anywho... so this morning it was off to the dentist with my mom - this is the specialist that did her root canal a year ago - the one who I cried in front of when he told me the price - it was before we had insurance - it's expensive! When I went to pick her up this morning she was all unhappy that she had an upset stomach from all the stuff oozing out of her tooth. Or course the dentist couldn't find anything the matter with the tooth. He was very nice - he came out to the waiting room to talk to me and said that he had done everything he could think of and he just didn't think there was anything the matter. I think he was worried I'd be upset that he couldn't find anything - but I told him that I didn't think anything was the matter either that it was the dementia and that she just fixates on things. I even told him I gave her tic tacs and told her they were antibiotics that would make her feel better - they didn't - but he chuckled about that. He was very compassionate and I could tell in his eyes that he really did feel for me and what I must be going through. Of course - I'm still back where I was - I'm concerned that even if we pull the tooth - she may still have a problem. Not sure what I'm going to do - she seemed to be doing better when we left the dentist. On the way home she told me (several times) about getting a sunburn when she first moved down here because the sun is so much more intense in this area than in the Pasadena area! God Bless Her! We did have a nice laugh on the way home. I offered to go to the grocery store for her on my way home from work tonight since it's been so hot and I didn't want her to have to go out in the afternoon sun (of course last time I went to the store for her - she went anyway and ended up with twice as much stuff). While I was driving she started telling me her grocery list - I told her she needed to wait until I could write it down and looked at her and said "I AM your daughter after all" - it took a moment but the joke wasn't wasted on her - we both had quite the hearty laugh - these are the times I really want to remember.

And It Was Such A Good Day...

Almost didn't post tonight - and it's not like I didn't have all day to write something up. But if I had written earlier - I wouldn't have had a mom story to tell. I do want to share two neat moments from the day - and one very frustrating one... First the good - during church this morning it was neat to be able to hear the congregation singing one of the praise songs - My Redeemer Lives - when up there playing - I'm not always able to hear anyone singing - but today I could - and it was just neat! Also at the nursing home service in the afternoon - I didn't hear them singing that much - but when it came to the Lord's Prayer - they all joined in. So at home, I didn't get any housecleaning done - but I did watch 4 hours of Studio 60! And then this evening my mom calls - and, of course, I screen the call - she starts going on about how her tooth hurts and it is oozing stuff out from under the crown and now all her teeth feel scuzzy and I need to figure out how to get her to the dentist - she was a bit nasty about it - which is probably why I picked up the phone and was not as nice as I know I should have been - but she has a dentist appointment tomorrow - that is written in big letters on her calendar - unfortunately, she thought today was August 7th - God Bless Her and God Help Me! And it was such a good day...