November 6, 2004

Wow, so much has happened lately.

The Red Sox won the World Series in a 4 game shut out leaving the Yankees eating their dust. What a thrilling and long awaited victory for Red Sox fans. This was the Yankees worse nightmare and fans were left feeling quite dejected.

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President Bush won a second term as president leaving Democrats crying and renting their clothing in despair. Bush supporters are quite jubilant, making Kerry fans even more depressed.

So, I guess if you’re a Democrat and a Yankee fan, you must be fraught with anguish about now.

I like the Yankees and the Red Sox, so it’s all good as far as I’m concerned. My sons were rooting for opposing teams, so at least one of them is happy. *smile* I know they’re both happy that Bush beat Kerry.

I’m glad he did, mostly because the values and morals I hold dear line up most closely with the Republican party.

One of the residents at Facility told me she thought I would make a good president. I had to smile at that and told her it sure would be a big jump from the job I have now. Hee.

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On the Mom front, I still don’t see any benefit from the Memantine. I will call the doctor and have him cancel any further trials with it. The antibiotics didn’t seem to change her behavior, so I have no idea if she had a UTI or not. I have had reports that Mom has been in very bad moods at night. I know the aides there are probably anxious for me to stop the Memantine. I guess I couldn’t help but feel hopeful for a positive outcome, so this is definitely a letdown. Of course the nurse at Facility will tell me she knew it wouldn’t do anything (like she told me to begin with).

Mom continues to guzzle down all the liquids I bring to her. I usually give her about 30 oz while I am there. I know she needs a more consistent intake and it makes me feel bad to think she is thirsty. Even though I hung the sign on her wall to please put her shoes on her, the aide had begun to put her slippers on her every day again. I was putting her shoes on her when I got there. Yesterday I asked her if I needed to make a bigger poster with the shoe request. I said to her, “Please have compassion on my mother. It makes her feet sore to walk around all day without shoes. I’m just asking you to have compassion.” I think she’ll start putting Mom’s shoes on her again, at least for a while. *sigh*

Mom has seemed okay lately. She smiles and hugs and kisses, but she also sits with her eyes closed a lot. She is tired. I just hope it’s a normal tired and not a sick tired.

I went to her house to wash my car today and the lawn was freshly mown and everything looked so nice. I thought about all the years growing up in that house. There was dysfunction in my family, but I think it was probably a pretty normal family. There are no Cleavers. Not really. Today I was thinking about all the snow we got when I was growing up and how Mom always let us go out and play in it. We loved it! She also made us kool-aid snow cones. She showed us how to scrape off the top layer of snow (because that part has poisons in it, she said) and get the clean snow underneath. She put our wet shoes under the radiator and laid our wet clothes on top of it. She was a good mom.

The house next door that I lived in for two years with the kids went on the market and sold so fast it made my head spin. I wouldn’t have minded owning that little house, but I guess I am all set for now.

Anyway, it was nice to be there for a little while and pretend like it was my house, my yard, and my neighborhood again. Incidentally, there is still no sale sign in the yard, even though my brother said it was going on the market in August. Go figure. I wonder if he is going to let it sit there all winter or what. Personally, I am happy for him not to sell it. As long as it just sits there empty, I can go over whenever I want and sit on the porch or do whatever. I don’t know how much more I’ll be washing my car this year, since it’s getting so cold now.

It will be very strange indeed when I drive by one day and another family will be living there.

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My own personal news is that my computer went haywire and I had to reformat! ARG! My old computer has a virus and I need to work on that one, too, but for now I am still busy with this one. When things started to go very wrong, I can’t explain the feeling of dread I suffered. I was worried that I was going to run into all sorts of difficulties while reloading all my software.

My older son chastises me for that. He reminds me that I cause myself more agony than is necessary by anticipating problems and worrying in advance. Half of the things I fret over don’t even happen.! Such was the case with my computer. The Lord was very good to me and helped me find the things I needed even though my computer room is a piled up heap.

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Work has been busy and we’ve even been offered more overtime again. Chris’s friend, Richard, is in the hospital and we’re worried about him. This is the same friend who had seizures at work a few months ago and was taken via ambulance to the hospital. I hope we hear some news soon and that he is going to be okay.

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I have two weddings to attend this month. I already have the presents and the cards, and even the gift bags! I love being ahead of the game!

1 Chronicles 29:11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.