Knock knock ... anybody home?

Who is the schlepper that owns this here blog?  Yeah you know the one who didn't even wish everyone Merry Christmas because she was too busy with her damn house.  Self absorbed beotch... that's all I can say.

The house and Christmas almost did me in.  So, I apologize for my bad manners.

We almost have everything in place except for the coffee and end table .. and a TV stand.  Now comes the putting up of pictures and decorating.  I have bought a few new pieces, but still have a lot of stuff from the other house that will work well in here.  I need some plants too.  Soon it will look like home and be cozy and have all my stuff around me again.

I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas so today I am going to try to make bread.  Shut up and quit laughing .. it could happen.  I have no idea where my loaf pans are..probably in the 3rd. garage behind the lawn mower.

I almost got killed this morning.  I think Gord had something to do with it, as a matter of  fact I know he did.  She got this stupid rain shower head .. THAT..turns different colours when the water is on.  I know...a disco shower ball if you will!!!  He has been showing it to everyone who walks in here.  It's gaudy as hell, anyway this morning I turned the water on to let it get hot before I got in and BANGGGGGG... the whole thing fell off the spout and on the floor.  Don't tell me that wasn't intentional. He muttered something about the clips had come apart.  Yeah... That's what you get when you buy shit that has "As see on TV" on the package.  That would have left a nasty gash on my head had it not been shiny plastic instead of real metal like most people have in there bathrooms.  Classy eh? We have 5,790 lbs. of metal stoves and fridges in the kitchen and in our bathroom we have a plastic disco ball rain shower head.

I just started feeding the birds and squirrels around here.  Poor Penny...she has a dent in her forehead from banging it up against the window.

I call him fat ass he is here everyday now.

We had Gord's family over on boxing day for dinner.  We actually all got to sit around the table at one time.  Usually I just do it buffet style, so this was a treat.  Gord's 96 year old Tanta Tina was once again in attendance. She slays me.  She is as funny as she always was.  She has a little trouble walking but other than that she can still hold her own.  I helped her to the bathroom after dinner and when she came out she said " Joan"...as she turned around bent over and said look at my slacks....haaaa she had them on backwards!  The pockets were in the back.  She said they had felt funny all evening and after she came out the bathroom she went to put a kleenex in her pocket and couldn't find her pockets!!  and realized she had them on backwards all evening.  We had a good laugh along with her.  This Christmas will be remembered as the one when Tanta wore her slacks on backwards!

Time to make bread...haaaa this should be funny.

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year!  Thanks for putting up with my tardiness.

Just once more for old times sake:)))

Isn't this the cutest xmas template?

I like it. 

I am still in the midst of getting this house together.  I know... you are tired of hearing this, but that's all I got these days.

Everyday is a surprise.  So many different things to see outside the big windows...

I am still trying to adjust to the new hood.  I lived out in this area in an apartment before we got married and I know the ropes .. like shopping etc.  but because we are situated back in the woods about a mile away makes it so different.  We are close to everything....hospitals..malls etc.  It's like coming home sometimes when I shop in the old malls that I shopped in before we were married.  I forgot how different it is here because the University of Manitoba is just down the road. When you shop in the stores you encounter a whole different mindset than where I lived before.  It is so diverse...and interesting.  It reminds me of when I lived here before when I was 28 years old.  The old Zeller's department store is still there ....only thing that has changed is now... I can order the Seniors Special in the restaurant...without them telling me to take a hike..heh....tomorrow I am getting my "roots" done in the hair stylist shop that has been there forever.  They now do tat's and ear piercing... so I might go for the whole package...because my ear piercing have been giving me problems of late...I don't wear my ear rings enough to make dem holes stay open.  And the tat...hmmm

I love the small town feel of this area.  We actually are on the tip of two areas..the one I just described and another older area called St Norbert.  This area is mainly French Canadian...this is where I go to buy food you can't buy at Safeway...and the former owners were Mennonite.... and I can still get my farmer sausage fix.

Sometimes I walk in the living room and see the woods...and wonder .....how the hell did I get so lucky.....  but I guess we spent a lifetime working for this moment.

Changed my template again

Just popped in to put up a few pic's and test this template.

  bbl

My Christmas Moose is up

My ole friend Jaye was getting tired of looking at my lame furniture, so I though I might actually POST.

It's kind of hard to post in a unfamiliar place.... I used to post in my office at my desk in the old house, but here I am in the kitchen at my new little office space built for me.  I no like.  Creative juices just don't flow here.  It's all too big in here, I am used to a small cozy space.  My old office stuff is in the back company office ... and is where I will go back to once we get the new computer.  Everything still echoes with these huge ceilings....I need a place that is cozy.

Life is moving on.  Our new bed is hard as a freaking rock.  But I guess that is to be expected after coming off the water bed.  Everyday it feels a little better.  It has a nice soft pad on top and I guess we just aren't used to it yet ... it will come.  We are still waiting for our furniture and that should be here in a few weeks ... I cannot wait.

I hate dark hardwood floors....now aren't you sorry you tuned in..heh...just to hear me bitch.  With all the big windows in here you can see every dang dog hair, dust, crumbs.. I loved living in denial when I had carpeting. Had I known that there was so much crap in my carpet I would have been crazy.  Ahhh so what ..we lived.  It was okay.  I would like it again...because I can't take much more of cleaning this shit up. Special cleaners for everything here.  You can't even walk on the hardwood floor barefoot because if leaves a imprint from the oil and sweat on your feet. What kind of shit is that?  Let's not even get into doggy footprints from coming in and out of the house in winter.....feck.....  When we had the first hardwood floor installed here it failed...and got too wet from the humidity of the house...and I had a choice then to go with another hardwood or carpet.  I chose carpet....and our rep told me I was nuts....she said you have such a beautiful house ...why would you spoil it with carpet?   Well guess what....I can vacuum the crap off...and don't have to see it when the sun shines...that's why.  I will find a way to get rid of this...yes it is pretty...pretty annoying.  I am so sorry I chose hardwood.  Maybe once we get all the furniture in here it might not be so noticeable ...especially in the living room.  We will have a huge area carpet in there...but I don't know. I'm thinking of sewing the dog a micro fiber type of cape that will reach the floor and she can schlep all the hair she loses and it will stick to the bottom of the cape.  Pure genius, another problem solved.

Another solution might be is getting window covering.  But the windows are one million feet high.  And are angled...blah blah blah.  And it would spoil the view in the forest. I pray for cloudy days because you can't see the dog hair and dust then.

I finally was able to take a shower this morning and get wet!  Everything around here has some kind of energy saving device attached to it.  The shower head has a water restrictor in it and the water barely trickles out of it, so Gord took it out and man do we have a powerful shower now.  Where their is a will there is a way!  We will beat those "go green" nutnicks at their own game.

Well that's all the complaining I have to do for now... and oh yeah...my new dryer broke.  It is a month and a half old.  It's one of those computerized jobs.  I had my old one for 15 years!!! and it never ever broke.  I sound like an old granny don't I?  heh ... I guess I am. 

Phew...I'm still trying to get my shit together

It's been a long and winding road.  We still haven't seen the end of it yet, but I can see the forest from the trees today.  Speaking of which, I saw two young deer today, and later the daddy deer ...mit da antlers on...taking them for a walk in the forest later in the evening.  I love when they start to run and their tails go up and you see the white fur underneath...it is so cool. They sprint.  They jump.  So darn nice.

Is this all we expected it to be?  Yes and no.  We expected the house to be completed before we took possession but that did not happen.  It was 99 percent done...but all the little stuff that still needed to be done takes time to complete.  So, I still have trades coming and going working out the little bugs.  It's not really a big deal as I still don't have any furniture and we don't feel connected as much as we would if everything was in place.

I spent the first two weeks doing waaay to much. But...boxes opened...things put away and out of sight...even if that was not the permanent home gave me some peace of mind.  So, that's where it is.  We will be ordering our furniture tomorrow.  I am a luck duck as my nephew is the manager of one of the best furniture stores here....and we will be getting a good deal. I picked out the sofa, love seat, chair, dining room and dinette tables yesterday.  We also have ordered the bedroom suite I showed earlier....but my nephew sold us the ultimate mattress....remote controlled...soft as a babies bum...you go up...or down...or around..maybe not...but fudge....this is better than sex...seriously.  Nephew said...auntie Joan...I knew you were coming down from a water bed...and this is what you need!  YES.  Anything would be better than the airbed we are sleeping in now.   The sofa,  love seat, and chair  has a remote controlled chaise lounger thing that pulls out from underneath them for your feets.  How decadent. 

We choose a different dining room table....than before...but it is still glass.  I will post it but just so you know the chairs are not white...I took it off the web site...they are almost an almond colour in real life.And the wood is a warm brown.

I found the neatest coffee table.  It has four nesting chairs in it, so when you have guests coming around and don't have enough seating...this is great. 

I don't have a pic for the dinette suite...but it is glass and round.  You will understand when you see the area it has to fit in. 

 Our driveway is just being put in today.  This has nothing to do with the house, it's our own project. It has been a huge project...as it is partially heated.  They have just finished pouring the concrete and it's getting a little cold out there....they might need to get some heaters going.

Penny Loafer Martin...has been such a trooper though all this change.  She hardly blinks an eye at all the goings on.  She just loves to sit with trades and watch them work. 

The wedding:  It was wonderful.  My bro lived to see it and participate in it like a dad should.  That makes me so happy. 

I will try to get on here more often....so hang on here with me.....

We don't have much in place

 TV is still sitting on the floor....

 Penny is making here debut.

 Only one counter chair has been built because we need sleep more that we need them dang chairs.

Windows were clean until a huge wind storm hit us last week...fudge...

One day at a time... I know...but I can't wait!!!

I went shopping yesterday and picked out the living room sofa....so that is done.  All that is left is the kitchen dinette and the dining room.  I already did the bedroom before we moved.  But we haven't ordered it yet....because someone around here likes to second guess me....but it will be.


Thanks for hanging around this ole blog site.  I know I am not half as amusing as I once was...but this building a new home and moving takes away from the funny.  This is serious stuff....especially when your dog can't get out of any of your three doors to take a shit because of the mud.  I bought 4 pieces of grass sod today.  I lined part of my porch with plastic and topped it with real grass.  No, she can't go running until they finish the driveway and we can't get out of here the easy way to the street....but she has missed grass so much since we moved and has had to shit on dry mud in the back ... until it rained and now everything is stinking ole red river clay.  Until the rain we did a lot of walks through the woods...it was great...but not so much now that we can't seem to get off the property.  So, I built her a porch lawn/doggie outhouse. 

I hope I don't have to mow it.haaaaaaa

More pic's to come....

Hello

I have not gone away. 

I remember when we moved into our old house some 26 years ago and I had so much energy and great ideas and hey I am the queen of the castle....not so much right now...but I have been overdoing it.  Surprise.  heh

I need order.  In order to have order ... you need to know where shit is.  This is where the problem lies.  If we would have our new furniture I could put stuff where it belongs...but I don't just yet. 

The house is beautiful....but it is far away from being a home.  It echoes.  It has no character yet.  It's like living in a vault.  I get a little misty some nights.  Penny is looking for a place she can call her own...just like me.  We don't fit in.  Just yet.  Gord... he doesn't give a shit...because this was his dream.

Last post from this address

I'm tired, but not sad anymore.  I'm there.  I'm ready.

Poor Penny Loafer is a little confused with all the going ons.  All the stuff is gone!  Well, not exactly gone, because we have sold a lot to the new owners (which I think is actually keeping her sane) because if it would be totally empty before we go tomorrow she would be a little cranky. But, she knows something is up.  Even Gord and I found it a little odd tonight because we could not sit on our comfy chairs after supper and watch the news.  We sat at the kitchen table (which is staying in the house) and didn't know where to go from there.  Dog sat in the barren TV room waiting for some ear scratching time. Gord had a shower went to bed...I sat down at my makeshift desk to type to this post. Dog is still waiting. 

We were 90 percent done yesterday, we would have been 100 percent done if my husband was not a hoarder...even the moving people could not believe the shit he keeps.  Sure I kept some stuff....but OMG...a garage and two sheds of "what ifs"... he promised to go through it at the new house and purge, but once a tool junkie always a tool junkie.  How many tools do you need?  How many tool boxes do you need?  Gawd.  He loves throwing my shit away. I don't even have much anymore, I have done the purge.  Every year in fall he goes through the garage (full of his shit) and his two sheds and re-arranges them.  Because if they look neat you might not realize he has a problem.  Snow blowers, snow plows, roto tillers, motorcycles...etc. the list never ends.  But, it never fails....never ever....he comes across my old fishing kit and rod and says...well you never fish anymore let's chuck this!  Seriously that is the only thing I store in the garage.  The rod and kit takes about 12 inches of space.   And every year I explain it means something to me because my dad and I always fished together and maybe one day I may or may not take it up again, but if I do I have the tools I need to do it. This has gone on for years and years.  Today, as the movers were moving the last bits out of the garage...Gord called me into the garage and asked if I wanted to keep my old rod and fishing kit. WELL FUCK.... sometimes you want to take a bat and smack him.  What part of what I have said over twenty years did he not understand.  I guess he thought I would get over  using 12 inches of his real estate.  I just gave him the "look".... no talking was necessary... and on the truck it went. Sometimes I just have to shake my head.  But...at least he build a 4 car garage to store the stuff he had in a double garage and two sheds.  I'm wondering if there will be enough room for my rod and kit....or hey...maybe my car!!!

I am having a little fun at his expense to be sure...I will let you know when it's all done and said.

Looking forward to tomorrow and a new beginning in a new neighbourhood. 

hey ho

No whining here today. Papers all signed....it's a go. 

I will have to admit that I have been a bit of a dink about this house.  I was so scared we wouldn't be able to afford it and didn't trust my husband enough when he told me ... it was going to all work out.  Well it worked out ... and more.....we will be just fine.  

As you probably know we are leaving most of our vintage 1970's furniture here for the new owners, I went shopping for a new bedroom set.  Yeah....no more water bed for us old hippies... this is one I choose.

 

This is the electric fireplace/TV stand that goes with it.

 

I think I can live with this.  Plus we will get a chest of drawers to match....because we are cool. But if I can get a waterbed mattress for this set ... I WILL. 

We will be living without a lot furniture for a few months, but I don't care.  Our first priority is to put in a fence for Penny Loafer.  I don't want to loose her.  We have had a few visits to the house but I don't think she gets it yet.  So I will have to make her feel like it's her home. 

I am so pumped tonight after all has been said and done....and on Wednesday the movers are coming for what we have left.....then I have until Friday to actually move our office stuff...just stuff you don't want movers to move unless they lose it. That will be all in the back of my truck with my computers etc.  Also I will be moving the stuff from our fridge and freezer...and all the dishes etc. I didn't pack.  I bought an air bed so we will have something to sleep in until we get the the new one. 

Phew... 4 more sleeps until we finally settle in.

balonie....making a new home.

ha

I bet this the longest I have ever kept a template on my blog.  This must be serious business we are plowing through.  It is.  It's hard and stupid.  I would never do this again.  But I never wanted it in the first place, but if I am stuck living in the bush in a beautiful house...so be it...heh.

The scoop

Thanks for wondering what the heck happened to me.  But we are in the final stages of packing and moving and the builders are in the final stages of finishing it off.  It's fine line my friends, especially because the builders ran into problems with our wood flooring.  A lot of it was put in three weeks ago or longer, but as time went by the installers were unsure about it.  It popped when you walked on it.  It cracked when you walked on it.  First of all they said it would go away..... in time...just like when you buy a pair of shoes too small...."they will wear in".. in time.  Yeah right.  it didn't happen and we had experts coming from all over Canada testing the humidity levels in the house, and they decided that their product was great...it was the fault of the humidity of the house.  Now you got a fight going on between the supplier and the retailer and the contractor....meanwhile we have to get into this house by next Wednesday.  (insert the F word here).

Today we were told the old flooring that was laid down would be removed and new and better Engineered flooring will be put in its place tomorrow.  So they have until next Wednesday  before we move in to complete a lot of tasks.  Not just this one.  I am a little disappointed, but we gave them so much time to do stuff, but once shit came to shove...like when we sold our house with a possession date of Oct. 1...they had to move their butts.  I am sure it will all work out fine, but I am really, really tired of building the fucking house.  I just want to live there.

Our house is totally move ready.  We got Gord's big work trailer in the front driveway and tomorrow my niece and her big man friends will be helping us move all the boxes from the house into the trailer. Because we were unsure of the timeline of the move our movers couldn't guarantee they could move the entire house the same day because they were booked up.  So we got the trailer and we will move all the boxes in there and the movers can pick up everything from our house and take all the stuff from the trailer when we bring it there. Good lord.

I met the new owners on Sunday.  They will be buying most of my furniture so there won't be much to move other than TV's, our  bedroom furniture ...comfy chairs... AND the WATER BED.  heh...  I really had to laugh when the people were here to look over the furniture, and their younger boy about 10 I would think had a fit.....he wanted the waterbed.  Haaaaa..  The Mom said ..no...we don't need a waterbed, and he said ..."it's so cool"... as he pressed his hands on it and watched it go up.. and down....then he cried a little and got over it when I promised to show him all the hiding places he would have in the lower level.  He loved it.  His mother will never find him!!!!  He was one cute little guy. At one point when we were negoiting prices for the furniture...he said... Mom don't spent too much because you promised me guitar lessons this year.  God bless his little cheap heart. He totally forgot about the waterbed.

So, yeah this is about all I can tell you.  I think I have taken pictures of the house since the last time I updated my house file.  I will look to see if I can find them.  This shit takes some serious crap out of you.  I am almost embarrassed by how long it has taken.

We have a beautiful house.....and the cutest taps in the world in the bathroom....I can't even remember choosing them...it was so long ago.

FYI...spell check is not working tonight some things never change around here.

I also tried to put pics up in my house blog...but it just kept on spinning the pics around before I could catch them....what's up with that?   I will try again tomorrow.

My feets are tired.....cramping all night from all the walking I'm doing...need better shoes. Or ice-cream.

Yeah it's me.

You know how much whining I was doing about leaving the hood....now I wish I could sell this piece of crap and get on with our lives. 

I don't want to jinx anything but we got a good offer today and accepted it.  We will know by Friday if it will go through.

Most people I talked to said building a house was stressful...I call bullshit.  Selling your house is the most stressful.  Keeping it clean...every fricking day.  I don't mind being clean but everything out of sight clean makes me want to take a pitch fork and send it right through my brain. 

Miss Penny and I have to vacate the premisses a few times a day when dumb fucks come through here.  That entails (ha ha penny..tails...get it) getting her in the truck and going nowhere for an hour.  We cruise...because we are cool...circumvent the hood, drop into the park where we take a very brief walk because in two minutes she has spotted another dog and is going into a dog fit.  Untangle the leash...back in the truck and sit in it ...facing the our street...so I can see when the Real Estate Agent is finished showing it.  Then we go home and she is happy because she thinks we went for a walk.  Every.stinking.day.  And the heat, it has been so hot here lately it makes me crazy. 

So, that's about it for now, if all goes well ...

Hello

You may have noticed that I have not written anything in here for awhile.  Nothing is really wrong ...yet everything is wrong.

It's the transition from one house to the next.   I did not do well with moving on with my life from the workplace to retirement nor am I doing well with this.

Please do not tell me to you are sorry..etc.... It's okay.  I am dealing with it every day.  I just need to say some stuff.  So don't be going ohhh Joan.... I'm not looking for sympathy ...just getting it off my chest.

I will miss my neighbours and friends in the hood.  You knew that already....but as time goes by I get misty eyed.  I know what to expect with the changing of the seasons...and today all the black birds (hundreds of them at different times) came by to visit my little pond reserve I made for them  and descended  on it. The sound was deafening with all of them enjoying the pond and all the bird baths.  Today I had Robins, blackbirds and doves fighting for a bath.  My neighbour next door has a huge pond....these guys fight each other for a bath in a bird bath...stupid birds....really... you assholes have a spa right next door.

Soon the Geese will be migrating. Our house is on their  flight path.  I will miss them shitting on my deck..or my head. Or in my wine. 

I worry and I worry.  Not only about this but will our house get sold. Right now it looks good.  You damn  Americans almost gave me a heart attack last weeks when you might have gone in another recession.  Your economy affects ours and yet we are doing so well.


So... I will trundle on....and worry.  YOU CAN NOT STOP ME.  But if you know of any under the counter stress relievers.. my ears are open.



balonie............

If you were my Canon digital camera ... where would you be?

A.)  In my purse.

Wrong!  There is nothing in my purse other than my wallet, grocery receipts and a used condom I found on the street.

B.)  In my camera case on my desk.

Wrong!  That would be the logical place to be, so it couldn't possible be there...and it's not.  One possibility is that it my digital camera tripod (which is beside the camera case) grew to life and ran away with the camera and traded it to the natives for dried fish, ferret pelts, and budgie feathers.  The tripod is still there, but I'm sure it only came back to put me off the trail.  I tried to make it walk today, but it just stood there.  Bastard.

C.)  In the fridge. 

Wrong!  I looked.  The last time I used the camera was last Friday night.  Friday night is wine sipping and pizza night so looking in the fridge was not a stretch.  I never checked the freezer, not that wouldn't be a stretch either but I can't bear the thought of seeing my camera freezer burnt.

D.)  In my pantie drawer.

Wrong!  I opened the drawer but didn't look directly inside of it.  I just felt my way around for a medium sized metal object.  I found none.  All I could feel were all my panties trying to get away from my prying fingers.  Apparently they are still a little miffed at me using their drawer to house other undergarments not associated with covering your ass.

E.)  On the patio table where I often take pictures.

Wrong!  It wasn't on the table, under the table, or beside the table.  However, I do have a theory of what may have transpired.  CROWS.  Crows like shiny things don't they?  We have a lot of crows this year and my neighbour lady found a dead one on her patio yesterday.  My theory is he swept down and grabbed the camera by the hand strap and flew into her back yard with it.  The considerable weight of it may have dragged him down and he struck his head on her very large and ugly stone statue of some Greek Goddess.  I asked her if she had seen my camera and she had not.  The rest of the crows in the yard all shook their head in agreement.  Was this a conspiracy among the crows?  Did one of the crows find the camera flung from the dead crows beak in the bushes and made off with it...or not?  The crows and I have had a long standing feud going on and this may have been "payback" time. But at this point I cannot retaliate because I don't have my Canon to shoot them with!!


I have checked every nook and cranny of this house and it just isn't here.  I finally searched and found my old Kodak camera but the battery was dead and I couldn't find the charger thingamajig.  Finally after practically unearthing the house I found it.  So, for the time being I will still be able to take pictures. 

I am absolutely drained with all this searching!!

And no I don't think the dog "et" it...although lately every time she yawns I see a hear a click and a flash comes out of here mouth.

I have no new pictures of my house

Because I'm not going there until it's finished.  Surprise me when I move in.

Okay... I might drop in ... but I am preparing for an Open House this Sunday on our home.  I have a lot of work to do in the garden because I bought 10 bags of chocolate brown mulch to spread on the surface.  The shit is...it's 5,000 degrees outside.  I don't ever remember a heat wave like this.  It is supposed to cool off tomorrow.  Our grass is crisp.  It looks like hay.. I need a cow.

I still have so much to do before Sunday and yet I cannot get my ass out of bed before 9:30AM....and am grouchy until 10:30AM....until the coffee kicks in....then I read a few blogs...then make lists of things to do in the afternoon.  By afternoon I mean 2:00PM  because Gord comes home for lunch at 12:30/1:00 and by the time I get my ass moving the day is almost gone.

It's all fine tuning actually.  The house has been painted, windows washed, garden pruned, carpets cleaned, it all about the little things.  Polishing the cupboards downstairs, railings, try to keep the dog groomed because it is shedding season...and the hair!!!!!  everywhere.  Arranging all my cluttered kitchen  cupboards ... because I tend to let things go there.  I gotta wash all the bathroom floors, and kitchen... vacuum the rest of the house ... yawn....I can't take this shit.

I spent about one hour today looking for the survey certificate for our property.  I could have done that anytime last winter...but noooooooo I leave it until the last moment.   I seem to get some kind of thrill out of time lines and trying to make them.  I have always been that way.  Loser.

I would like to make the house smell better for the open house on Sunday.  But as it is now we have to have everything closed up because of the heat wave......no fresh air.  Just the A/C. It smells like us in here.. a little funky ... my dog doesn't have a dog smell that I notice like some dogs do...but others may.   I have placed 4 unscented fresheners around the house because I don't want it to seem to be covering up my love of cooking with garlic and onions.   Do I bake a nice banana bread in the morning before the showing?  Would that be too obvious?  And just say......oh yeah our home always smells like vanilla and banana .. you will love it here!  Those smells are part of the purchase price.

I will at sometime have to explain why I laid sixteen floor tiles on top of regular flooring in my laundry room.  At an odd angle. Experiment gone wrong. And those buggers won't come off...The flooring in the laundry room is beige...I laid sixteen tiles on top of that leading into the room.  For no other reason than that I had them left over from tiling the entrance way to the house.  They are dark brown tiles so I thought it might look like a little carpet.  Apparently I may have over estimated my HGTV skills.  Or... I am cheap.  I have already carpeted over the tiling I put in the entrance way...because I was not good at it and the tiling separated and looked like sheeeeit. 

By the looks of it now...we are in for a thunderboomber.  I am not surprised with all this heat.  I get so crazy with the heat because I am just not used to it. I am so thankful for AC.....

Just a note:  Baby bro is still at home and holding his own.  He is managing his diabetes quite well. Although many changes have to be made from taking med's to insulin.  It's a new ball game.  But he is loving every minute being at home instead of the hospital.

Okay...so I never post anymore and here I go and talk your ass off....only because it's too fricking hot out there to sit on the deck and play on my IPad.  Kidding.... You know it's really crazy because I thought once I retired I would have all this time to blog.  I wouldn't have to worry if it was late at night or would have to get up early in the morning for work. But it turned out I was pretty burned out by trying to do both.  Or was I ??

I'm pretty sure I was just a jerk... because we all know I like the deadlines.  I have no excuse for not posting other than my fingers like doing other things....like picking my nose, pruning a rose, taking a doze, ..yeah that's about right.

Time to get going........

Picking up the pace around here...getting stuff done.  We will be starting to sell the house next week.  I arranged and rearranged rooms to make them look bigger.  Especially the office here upstairs.  That was easy and I don't know why I never thought of doing it like that before. 

Cleaned all the woodwork in the kitchen...thanks Donna for the help.  I'm glad I had it on hand.  I used to use orange oil for my teak furniture but never thought to use it on the kitchen cabinets. duh... It's a wonder worker. 

Tomorrow the living room gets a make over...it's almost empty because we threw most of the old furniture away....so that will be easy...and then down to the lower levels ...which have all been cleaned etc. but I have all our business records etc. and Christmas decorations all in one closet..which I will distribute between two closets so it doesn't look too crowded. 

Then of course this has to be the only summer where we don't have any rain.  Our back 40 is dried out.  The lawn looks like my face....all dried up a wrinkly.  Tonight I tried to take the nozzle off the hose and attach it to the sprinkler.   nope.  Gord in all his wisdom thought I might forget to turn the water off  and our our leaking nozzle would pour 5,467 litres of water down the drain. And cranked that hose down tight.  Fer fuck sakes.  I could not get the hose out of the nozzle thingamadoo. 

Things are going faster that I anticipated.  Only because they we so slow before.  Crunch time. 

When you poo you move

Just sitting out on the deck this morning having my coffee and reading a few blogs....UNTIL 1,456 kids jumped in our neighbours pool ... all under the age of 4.  I have never heard so much noise in my entire life.  All the mothers began to frantically give the little tykes directions.

... stay in the shallow end
... don't eat bird poop
... don't take off your swim suit
... where is your diaper...oh noooooooooo

and on and on and on and on.  I'm sure the poor kids didn't even have a chance to get wet.  They were just marching around trying to figure out who to listen to first.  Between the Natzi moms and the screaming kids it sounded like a day care gone out of control.  This lasted for 20 minutes...then silence. 

I lowered my sling shot, and went in and got another cup of coffee and sat back down on the deck.  Two minutes later .... two minutes people... and it all started up again.  Apparently they moved the troops over two houses down to another pool!

I am pretty sure it had something to do with that lost diaper.

No soup for you!

Tomorrow is a  meeting with the guy who will install the brick in the front of the house and around the fireplace at 9:00 fricking AM.

Since I have retired I have become the laziest tart in the valley.  I go to bed at 11:00-12:00 PM and sleep until 10:00 AM.  AND if it's a rainy cloudy morning I will lay there for another half an hour.  Just listening to the rain and the sound of my pond tinkling in the back yard while I snuggle up in my really soft comforter.  Who knew I would love retirement this much?  I bitched about it for an entire summer last year because I didn't quite get it....but now I do.  Sometimes I feel guilty that I should be doing more and at least go down to the laundry room to see if the dryer has quit and bring up the clothes....but most time I totally forget about it and have to restart it to get the wrinkles out of the clothes. 

I don't try to make projects anymore.  That was driving me crazy.  I just let what has to be done and what I want to do lead me on. 

I intend to get a little more motivated once we start selling the house, but for now I am enjoying this parcel of time I have left in this house to smell the roses.  Actually I don't have any roses, but I do have hundreds of plants coming up in my garden that I thought had died.  Yes, they chose this year to come up!  They must be bidding me farewell.  Or just sticking their tongues out at me for not taking care of them when I was here.  I will have to do a little pruning because it has got out of hand with all their rage.

Made a pot of soup today.  It started out as a normal pot of soup...until I upped it.  I had a lot of left over spinach from the salad I made for Hippy Chicks birthday...plus some bok choy from a dish I made last week, and with carrots, onions, peas, beans, potatoes and a couple of slabs of smoked ham. I added some summer savoury...lots of black pepper ....and it still doesn't smell like soup.  I added some chicken stock to it...and it still didn't smell like soup.  Not the soup I am used to.  Well at least I got rid of the spinach and bok choy I had left over.  I love bok choy in a stir fry... but this was soup.  Bok Choy probably recognized I was was trying to make a Mennonite soup with Chinese ingredients...and kicked the Mennonite out of the soup.  Can't veggies get along?  It tasted okay...just okay.  The fresh buns we had with it were the best.

Gotta go...I have to get up at 9:00AM tomorrow so that means I have to be in bed by 9:00PM tonight.

Balonie...just making a pit stop on Joan's blog..

A real post

I made this on Friday for Hippy Chicks (65th. birthday)

Salad  It's a Asparagus Tortellini Salad.  It was a big hit.  I have a really bad habit of not following a recipe.  I always manage to change it up to suit my tastes, but this time I stuck to the original recipe (and it was hard to do)  several times I had to remind myself to STICK TO THE RECIPE!  I'm glad I did.  No wonder every time I try something new ... it tastes like something I had before.  Of course it does because I eliminate half the stuff ... and add in the stuff I know I like.  Control freak!

Haaaa... looks like she is trying to find her bi focal range while reading a birthday card....yup that shit happens when you git...65.

My nieces wedding social was last Saturday.  Wedding socials are very noisy and I basically came home hoarse and deaf.  Old people should stay at home.  She was beautiful and very happy to see all of us old farts attending.  Most of my cousins were there and it was good to see them all again.

                                                            Lisa & Jordan (almost newlyweds)

                                   L-R Shane & Cheri (Lisa's sister) Jordan & Lisa, SIL Joan and bro Garry.

                                                               Some of my crazy cousins

My bro

So it has been a busy few weekends.  I'm really tired of talking to people lol. 

The house is coming along fine.  They put in the granite counter top last week and it looks awesome.

They are just starting to put the trim on the windows and doors.  I will have to take a picture of the rounded corners throughout the house ... they look really neat.

The blue jays and the crows are screaming at each other in the back yard... its sounds like a war zone. Time to get out the broom!!!

Hey ho....just another day in the life.

Busy busy with the new house...lots of things to figure out and decisions to be made. 

Gord is usually my stumbling block..head   Today it was the color of the baseboards and the window framing.......ohhhhhhhhhhh my god you would think this was the end of the world!  I chose a very neutral off white color that was suggested by the designers....he saw the swatch and said it looked grey........it wasn't grey asshole...it was a neutral color that would look good with the window frames. 

Our home builders are very good to us... and suggested we see one one their show homes that had that color on the baseboards and window frames.  That meant another road trip...because this house was about 20 miles from our house...yay I love road trips...and having lunch at a greasy spoon after that.  Excuses to eat grease is right up my alley. 

We walked around the show home and saw immediately it was the right shade.  Actually if Gord didn't want all the stuff he wanted  for our house....this house would have been perfect for two retiring old farts like us.  It was a small bungalow with a really nice enclosed patio.  But he is determined to spend all our money before we die....thus the big house is where I will kill myself cleaning it.  I want this written on my tombstone...

Her lies Joanie Balonie
full of macaroni
Gord killed me
And didn't give a shit
Cleaning the big house
Threw me into a fit.

I promise to be a better blogger after all this has gone down with my brother and  then with the house...plus now we have to sell it.  Lot's of shit still on our plate.

Bro was ambulanced to the hospital earlier this week.  again....apparently the discharge doc...forgot to put his diuretics in his med prescription when he went home..   FFSAKES..... He has congestive heart failure for shit sakes...how could they have missed that?   SIL was surprised that he didn't have a med like that in their regime...but thought perhaps is was a new med was taking care of that she didn't know about. 

They took out 16 litres of  water out of him.  His is back home now.  Sigh.......a little lighter.

I have a few pic's to post from my nieces social on Saturday...but I don't have them on this computer.  I will post them tomorrow.  Most of you will have seen them on facebook already.

Balonie...

Hiya...I am getting my mojo back..weaving in and out

Gord went to a seminar tonight...so I made my own supper.  I made potato salad with lots of eggs in it..the way I like it...and lots of sour cream and mayo...green onions ... some vinegar...and some sugar.....If I would have made it like I did years ago it would have had whipping cream in it.  But of course I don't have that in my fridge anymore.  I still need some meat with my meal...because that is what I still like to do...last week I went to Foodland...a store that still sells shit that is not good for you.  I bought a canned chicken.  I remember when we were young and mom had to make a quicky meal she would bring out the canned chicken.  I loved it then...and I just sort of like it now.  It's just like the canned hams.  We used to have them all the time when we were younger...and I have to say...I still like them...BUT when you read the labels...FFsakes the salt in them is so high ...it could put you in the ground man.  Way down. 

So now I only eat a can a week.....kidding...

I was just thinking ...........I have a pressure canner, I could can chicken. .... if I could catch them...heh... I have a small electric stove in this house that is not good for the pressure cookering  and it has a glass top...in my next life at the new house I have a huge gas stove.  A stove that scares me, but could hold the pressure cooker and jars of nakid chickens.   I have so much to look forward to.  Like a gas stove.  OMG....life might be a little shorter that I anticipated.  When I blow up the whole famdamily. 

Balonie.....trying to use her head. Without too much success just yet....

Road Trip

We did a little road trip on our way to see the slab of granite.  First stop was Lockport.  It is a huge dam on the Red River where boats have to go through the locks to get to the other side.

We went to Skinner's for dinner here.  Skinner's is supposed to have the world's best foot long hot dogs.  SUPPOSED to!  I used be really good...but our hot dogs were nuked...yuk...fries were still good.

This is part of the river running towards the locks.

This is the entrance to the locks...see that cement thingie on the right down behind that boat..it's fun going through them.  We did that a lot when we had a boat.  It's kind of scary because the locks empty and down you go until you reach the level on the other side.  If you are good ... they let you out the other side.  You have to be sure you got your boat secured because once you are in there it can get crowed with other  boats and you don't want to be bumping into them....that has happened...wasn't my fault I thought someone else was holding the rope.

The Quarry ... all the granite lined up in a row.

                                                              We picked our slab.

                                           Then we went home and drove past a bee field.  The end.

Exciting huh?  I burped that ugly hot dog all the way home.



Bro is home

It's only been a few day yet but so far so good. 

I have been so crazy busy with the new house....and am so glad he is at home because I don't know how I could visit as often as I did.  We live a long way from the hospital. 

I put up a few more pic's on my house website....it's on the sidebar.

Give me a few days and I'll try to fill everyone in on everything.  I know I have been really shitty about posting lately.  I try to read all your blogs in the morning with my coffee....and then it's time to get busy and get about my bussynes.. huh?  I haven't lost my sense of humour yet... it was close....but I found it under a pile of laundry I forgot about.  Tired ...yes..!! 

I have a story to tell

Garry told me about his roomie today.  I was always wondering about him...something was off. 

When Garry was in the hospital the last time he had the best roomie...and that made the time go faster and he had someone to talk to...but this guy was always ... a little off.  He always watches me if the curtain is open when am visiting...so I close it.

Today Garry told me this guy jerks off all the time...day and night.  It is freaking him out.  He can hear him. Today when I was visiting the Aides put a tent up around this guys "bottom section" LOL...so nobody could see what he is doing.  WTF? 

But I'm not surprised because if you spend a lot of time in the hospital sick or just visiting you see it all. 

You see the best and the worst of people. In the corridors, on the elevators or on the sidewalk outside.  Everyone has a story to tell I am sure.  We all come from different backgrounds and religions.  Winnipeg is a melting pot of all of that.  And I guess some guys that like to jerk off with a fucking feeding tube in their nose...I don't know.

It takes all kinds..

Hi there.......

Sally asked for the link to the NEW HOUSE BLOG and I put it on the side bar but it's not a direct link.  It seems I have had so much on my mind lately I totally forgot how do shit on the blogger side bar.

It is: http://heywhatdoyouwantfornothing.blogspot.com/

Don't ask me how I came up with that address...I tried so many and they were rejected I just decided to be an asshole.  As you know I'm good at that.

All the insulation has been done...the drywall was put up last week and now the tapers are in doing there thing.  I will be going in again next week to take more pics.  Actually I have a few of the insulation but they are pretty boring. 

Now we are in selling mode for this house.  I have spent countless hours trying to get the back 40 in shape, but its hard this time of year because all the trees are seeding and making such a mess.  As for the rest of it ... it has been painted inside and out in the last year or so.  De cluttering was done last fall when we thought we might be moving in winter....so not much left to do other than get someone to do all the windows.  I used to do them myself, but some of them are so high and need to be taken out to be cleaned.  They made stupid windows 25 years ago. 

I still have junk that needs hauling...but that will stay until we sell the house...or it would be empty..LOL.

We will start anew.  Only keeping our family treasures, furniture, plants and accessories we still like...and the our Penny Loafer.  And yeahhhhh all my computer shit.  Even my old Dell.  Gord says we don't have to take her and I can get a new one....I have my eye on the touch screen HP...(Dellie don't be reading this...momma is just making a joke).

Bro is still improving.  He even went out for a wheel chair ride last night with his daughter in the hospital.  He still has to be watched with food....because he was intubed for so long he has problems swallowing.  But I think he will be on solids very soon.  Because he has been bed ridden so long he has "lost his legs" so to speak and they do Physio on him now.  He is in a room right in front of the nurses station with another man who are "runners."  And have an Aide watching them all the time. 

But I think he has figured all this out and realized that he can't just get up and go anymore.  His has been tied down for almost a month because he was tearing off his tubes etc...we didn't think he knew that when he was so out of it...but he did.  He talks about it.  But he wouldn't be here if they hadn't done that.  It's so hard to explain so someone who just wants to go home. 

He asked me yesterday the date of his daughters Wedding Social. (we have pre wedding socials in Canada) and they are fun.......and I said June 18th. and he said ..I have to be there... So he is thinking positive and wants to be there for her.  Even he he can't go home by then I think he will be able to get a pass to be there.

Our wedding socials are great....people buy tickets for about 10 bucks a piece ...All their friends and family are invited to go to a hall and dance the night away....with ole fashioned food...Winnipeg Rye Bread, Salami, Kobasa, cheese, chips, and pickles.  Lets not forget the booze...  Everyone pays for their own booze  and then they have different draws all night for prizes.  What ever is left over from this goes to the bride and groom.  We had one when we got married... I loved it.  It's done a little differently today.  In my day it was supposed to be a surprise social....now the couple puts it on themselves.  It helps to to pay for the wedding.  And that is why it was done in the first place.  It's just a start for them, as it was for us.

So I am looking forward to this...and hope all will go well.

Today he was himself

He did that the first time he was in the hospital.

I went to see  him today and he was his own self.  He was my bro again. 

Thanks again for all your stuff.  This is getting so old.  I can count the wrinkles on my face...that little bugger did to me..

We will just carry on. 

balonie

It is what it is.

I am taking a break.  I have to get on with my life. 

I may regret saying this but after talking to him on Monday when he was lucid...he was a total prick. He may be depressed but the things he said to me were hurtful.   He is rude to all the staff in the hospital.  He did that the last time he was in as well. 

He kept on saying "we don't want him."  He just wanted to go home.  Nothing we said would help.  But this time he said he just wanted to die because everyone thinks he is a mental case..  Then he told his wife to fuck off when she tried to explain to him that he needed to be able to walk and eat properly before he could be released.  I think..he thinks he we will put him in a mental ward or something......

I don't know where all this is coming from....but if he keeps on acting this way..they might just do that.

I have to go back tomorrow...it's been two days off for me....

I'm not looking forward to it.

Just another day ...but another day is good.

I wish I didn't have to write my blog everyday with sadness.  I am not always sad.  One of the days I don't visit my brother I am happy.  Which is every second day. I get on with my life.  But one the day I have to go and look at what's happening to him...is very freaking sad. 

Today the entire ICU developed some kind of infection....I had to wear a gown and gloves etc.  and he had a huge rash on his ass.  Something to do with fecal matter....don't ask.  It spread though the ICU.

WTF....if his big fat loving heart doesn't fail him....an ass rash just might.  It never ends. 

SIL spent a lot of time together today after we left the ICU and went to the park and just talked. I could tell she needed to get a lot off of her mind.  We both did.  We talked and it felt good to know how we both felt.  She has a heavy load on her. 

What I probably haven't told you was that she foster's little FAS babies for Child and Family Services. She had done that for awhile. Hmmm yes I think I did...but anyway.....

A few days after Garry was in the hospital she had Child and Family Services get her some respite so she could get to see Garry.  On the Sunday when she went to pick them up from the respite home....little Noah had died. 
There were ambulances and fire trucks all around the house and she didn't know what was going on.  Apparently little guys like that are likely to die of  "crib death"...I know there is a better word for that...but I can't think of it now.   And that is what happened...on top of everything else.  She loved those little guys.  The other one is now in another foster home.  How much worse could this have got......we were devastated.  He was such a cute little guy ... and I got to meet him at Easter at our dinner at their house.

She is now missing her babies she loved so much and Garry....and has to go home every day after visiting hours to an empty home.  Her kids are right behind her doing what they can.....but I could see today when we were talking how much her life has changed....and she is scared silly.  And so am I. 

It is always harder on the the family than it is the patient sometimes...because he doesn't quite get it...Sometimes I'm thankful he doesn't.

Hello

Sorry for not posting for awhile... it's been pretty stressful.  Bro went into cardiac arrest after he was released from ICU into a ward.  Some how his food tube became dislodged and sent the food into his lungs...yeah.  He was doing really good there, but something went wrong.  He is now back in the ICU and we are starting this crap all over again. 

Today they took him off the ventilator and he is breathing on his own.  They had to drain all the that shit out of his lungs first.  God only knows how much damage that did to his heart and lungs.  He was awake yesterday and I got to talk to him several times ..but he is so weak and is still coming out of this second event.

Will fill you in this weekend....I'm so tired all the time...just from thinking.  I just want to sleep and not think.

Joan

I have to write this quick

Explorer keeps knocking me off here.  I wrote the longest post yesterday only to find that blogger saw no need for me to keep in touch either.  Bastards..

Quick update:  Bro is still in limbo.  He is awake, but still very tired.  I have been there 3 times now and he has been asleep and I can't wake him up.  I always manage to come after he has had visitors and that tuckers him out.  For me..it is a long journey to the hospital because it is on the other side of city...so when he was stabilized I only go every two days.  His family keeps me up to date when I don't go that day.  It is so disappointing to just have to sit there and watch him snore.  I left a message on our family board in his room that I have been there....but hey...I want to hear his voice.  Tomorrow.  Hopefully he will be awake...or I might have to set a firecracker under his ass.

In my long winded post yesterday I was telling you about Hospital Parkades.  We call any parking facility over two stories a Parkade.  So keep that in mind.  Long story short:

In the last week and a half I have learned a lot of stuff .....

I have lost my truck and wandered around a parkade this very scary part of town trying to find it.

Elevators don't always take you to where you are going. And sometimes they don't even open up.

Always carry lots of change .. or a credit card because you will never get out of the parkade without it.  3 bucks for half an hour. Make sure you tell the person you are visiting  you care alot about them in a hurry unless you want to hit the 6.00 dollar mark.

Always ... look around you in the parkade it's a pretty scary place.  Especially downtown like this one is.

Parking is the pits my friends.  On Friday I had to park on the highest level of the freaking Parkade.  Level #5.  The level of the devil.  When SIL and I were in my Bro's room which overlooks the parkade I told her we could see my truck from there.  I was all ..hey...look there is my truck!   Garry was still sleeping at that time. So there was not much else to talk about.

I left before she did....and apparently she saw me on the 5th. level wandering around looking for my fucking truck. I'm sure she was laughing.... it wasn't there....the truck I was looking at from the hospital window was another black SUV...but not mine.  To make this story shorter and a little less embarrassing...I found it on the 4th. floor.  But that came at some cost.  Okay the story will be a little longer...

While of the 5th. floor floundering around like a big ole beached whale looking for my beloved rusty ole truck ... I spotted an elevator at the far end.  NOT the elevator I took up there.  This was a new shiny elevator.  I was a little sceptical at first but  I hopped in and decided to go back to the 1st. floor and find the bread crumbs I had left on my path to the 5th. floor when I first started my journey. I entered #1 and as I started down I realized I must be at a different part of the huge hospital system....this elevator had windows and I could see the street below.  (SIL saw me in the elevator too..haaa)...but when I got to the the 1st. floor the door would not open.  Dear God....I was beside myself with all this bullshit...I just wanted to sit down and cry.  But instead of trying to get help I punched all the floors from 2-5 and it went back up one floor at a time.  My reasoning was it had to stop at least one of these floors and open... It.did.not.  Here I was again...on the fucking 5th floor...and the door would not open.  I punched #1 again ... and down I went again.  As I was sitting on the ground level ... and thanking God for not letting me get thrown down the elevator shaft in the basement ... I was so upset I couldn't even find the panic button. I decided to punch #1 again.... and the DOOR OPENED.  I ran out of the building.

I ran over a few people in wheelchairs...wiped out a few on walkers...sideswiped a few who were having a smoke in front of the building.  I found the cross walk back to the Parkade...put on my thinking cap... and figured I was probably parked on the 4th floor.  This time I did not take the elevator...I took the stairs.  I found my baby in about 2 minutes.  My SIL had witnessed most of this from my brothers room.  I'm pretty sure that is why she never let me babysit the kids when they were young.

Went home and drank a bottle of wine. Smoked a pack of cigs's ...did some LSD...and yeah...just mellowed out.  Actually it was more like 2 Tylenol and magic mushroom soup.   heh.

Hospitals are stressful enough....but trying to figure out the system is worse.  Just a note...next time I go I will write the parking spot number on my ticket.  Oh yeah...it's fun getting out of there too.  First you have to go to a pay station and present the ticket you got when you came in. (If you can find it) ...nutter story.  You stick it in the machine and it yells at you....PLEASE INSERT ALL YOUR ?DOLLARS...and as you are inserting your 100.00 DOLLARS..it keeps telling you to do this over and over ...until you want to kick it's ass.  The overhead camera is the only thing that keeps me from coming down the ramp with my SUV after I have paid and taking it out.

I'm going back for more tomorrow.  Bro better be awake because I has a lot of stories to tell him.  And tomorrow I think I might look for street parking ....which is at a premium.

Don't let me forget to tell you about how I put streaks in my hair today.  Why get a professional do what you can fuck up all by yourself?

Anyone want to send me a hat? 

Balonie...treading carefully....

Still touch and go

They were still trying to get him awake when I was in the hospital today.  He has almost  been weaned off the med's that made him sleep to get all his stuff rested up.  For the first time we were encouraged to talk loudly and touch him.  And touch him and talk loud...we did.  SIL and I went in early afternoon ... only to find my cousin...Garry's best friend was there and he was touching and feeling him...and talking loud.  He got him to open his eyes several times.  After he left we took over and Joan (yes my SIL is named Joan) not balonie however.... and we started talking to him.  Joan took his arm and rubbed it and started talking to him and asked if he could open his eyes....he tried so hard and he got them half open...then off he went again.  We kept on doing this for some time and finally his arms and hands started to move.  His eyes would open occasionally but he would always drift off.  The nurses were all ready for him because they said some people wake up FAST and they get agitated and start pulling out all their tubes so they tied his hands down ... just in case.  They want everything to slow and smooth. 

When I left I took his arm and rubbed it for awhile...then I asked him to open his beautiful brown eyes ... and he did.  Just for a moment.  Then I spoke Low German to him and threatened him that if he wasn't awake by tomorrow morning....I would make him eat rabbit shit like I did when we were kids.  So I'm hoping that will work.  He would have done the same for me.

So tomorrow should give us more news ... and we will proceed from there. 

Somebody tape that kid's ears down....and I am really sorry I kicked his baby tooth out.  We were fun fighting on the bed.

Not too much to report

He is still in ICU.  They put him on a ventilator yesterday because he was pulling the mask off every time he felt unable to breathe properly. Then they sedated him because he was very anxious.  That helped immensely with his breathing and his heart rate.  By the time I left on Friday he had settled down and was breathing pretty good.  But on Friday night he started to get agitated again and they thought it would be best to put him on the ventilator.  I might be saying this all backwards...but as of today he is still on the vent but of course he started a low grade fever....fuck!   The prognosis is that he has Congestive Heart Failure. He has fluid built up around his lungs/heart making breathing very hard.

 I pretty much figured that out three weeks ago when he was in there, but they were too busy trying to cope with the blood infection he got after his stent replacement.  He had the same kind of breathing problems but they him some kind of drug ( I can't remember the name) to flush it out.  And that worked and his breathing became normal.  Now.... this time round... I don't know what is going on. 

Apparently the best thing is to keep him quite and not to get him going.  He has never really seen me there because he has been sleeping when I come and when I go.  I would rather see that than what I saw when I got there of Friday when he was trying to catch a breath.  It was disturbing.

I didn't go the facebook route with this ...this time ...because it was too serious and I didn't really want people that I barely know .. or are just friends of friends.. that are on my list to get involved.  I wanted to keep it low key with my best friends on blogger who I trust and feel comfortable with.

So thank you very much for all your kind words.  And to my friend Jude who has gone through this experience many times with her husband ... I keep the words you wrote when Fred was going through all of the same thing in my mind.  And Fred is still here....so I take comfort in that.

On another note:  It's freaking snowing!!!  We have a couple of inches that came down today.  Dog is very confused.  But of course this is just gives her a reason to piss on the deck.  Snow does not = lawn.  Snow wins.

Thanks again for listening to my woes.....

Que Sera, Sera,


Whatever will be, will be

The future's not ours, to see

Que Sera, Sera

What will be, will be.

Balonie.......and Doris Day!

a note

My bro is in grave condition in the ICU.  I haven't said anything because when you type it ... it becomes real.

Joan

Just a note

Those babies are scheduled to be reunited with their parents.  Family services always tries to keep the family together.  SIL takes them 3-4-5 times a week to their homes for visits.  One family didn't even have a home until last week.  The other one will have a home.  But.......

My question is.....a normal baby is a handful...imagine a mother who probably is still struggling with alcohol addition  trying to be reunited with her child that has FAS?  How will she cope. 

I didn't expect to see such normal looking children when I went there.  Their outward appearance has nothing to do with their fucked up their iddy biddy brains.  They are much slower to develop and when they get older they have a very hard time figuring out right from wrong along with a whole lot of other shit.

The one little guy took a long time to focus.  He sort of looked spaced out.  But once my niece had him on her lap and got his attention by making noises and putting her hair in his face .... he finally centered on her. It took awhile.  Then we got a huge toothless grin.  He has problems with his hands and feet always twitching and then he scratches his head ... so he still has to wear little baby mittens and be swaddled at night.

I just hope Child and Family Services doesn't give them back to the parents before they and the babies are ready to go.  I hear so many horror stories on how people abuse little children with their addictions ..... and I saw the little one's first hand this weekend ... it hit home.  The little guys name is Zues.  I think I fell in love. 

We had a really good Easter this year

We were invited to share Easter dinner at my Bro's home...along with his wife's family.  It was the best food I have eaten in a long time. Garry's wife Joan is Ukrainian and when they make a meal....it's the real deal.  I counted 13 different dishes.  Turkey, Dressing, Cranberry sauce,  Pickerel (breaded fish), Meatballs with gravy, Ham, Mashed potatoes, then two different Ukraine dishes both were divine... one was rolled up pasta with a whipping cream sauce...and the other was a baked Perishky I think she called it...yum.  Holubtsi, Perogies, Ceaser salad, coleslaw, and pickled eggs.  I might have missed one or two....yikes....Cheesecake for dessert!!!

I wish I would have taken  a picture of the dinner table before the vultures started to circle.

I love listening to Joan and her sister talk about how much their mom used to make for Easter on the farm....apparently they had huge roasters full of all that I just mentioned and more. 

It was nice to sit down at the table with a large family around you ... and partake...very nice.  I'm still dreaming of the Pickerel fish (walleye) to you Mericans...it was so good.

SIL also fosters little babies with FAS...and I got meet the two little 3 month old tykes yesterday.  It is so sad that these beautiful children will never grow up to be normal adults because their mother drank too much. 

 That's my niece holding #1

This is # 2.....they are such good babies....but what will come of them.  So very sad.

Happy Easter my friends.

Joan