Yes, it was a bright sunny day and I spent all of it in front of the computer catching up on everything that needed catching up on at the moment. So there has been no “playing” today despite thoughts in that direction. I’ve also watched a myriad of hungry hummingbirds partaking of our feeder. And the second sweater was returned by Storey Publishing along with my rejection letter.
And speaking of eating, I bit the bullet and pulled out the scale this morning. I’m not really sure what my last weigh in on Weight Watchers was but I think I’m within 2-3 pounds of that. At least it wasn’t as bad as I feared in light of all the ice cream I’ve been eating with Nancy and totally not giving any consideration to what I eat. The words “go back on Weight Watchers” slipped from Bill’s lips again today! And while I know I need to lose some weight, I don’t really want to spend the $16.95 a month unless I’m actually working at dieting.
I got an email from a customer that I did some knitting for a year or so ago. Her mother is making placemats for her brother’s August 8 wedding. She is using taffeta and is wondering how to finish them. I guess I might have figured that out before I started but what do I know. She is thinking they need some serging but I can’t see that serging is a finishing method. I mentioned it to Nadine who suggested sewing two layers together and turning them. Peg suggested putting fringe or something around the edge. Of course, I don’t know exactly what the lady is doing so it makes it hard to offer suggestions.
I talked to Barbara today and gave her a report on the Roadhouse Restaurant. I talked with Deanna and the doctors are confirming two spots of cancer – one in the liver and one in the colon. She will have a port implanted Friday afternoon and begin chemo next Wednesday. That will happen every two weeks for however long and then when the golf-ball sized tumor in the liver has shrunk they plan to do surgery. She is, as you can imagine, upset over the whole thing. But she told me she is assured that Jesus will not leave her alone. She asked me to contact Grace and let her know. I also called Nadine and gave her an update.
So that is pretty much the extent of my doings today. I’m listening to a new audio book called “Hawk O’Toole’s Hostage” - a Sandra Brown novel from 1988. I forgot to take a regular book to Nancy’s on Monday so I took this to bed Monday night. The only problem with an audio book is that you can fall asleep listening and the book continues on without you! 
My new regular reading book is Karen Kingsbury’s “This Side of Heaven” - a story of secrets, broken relationships, and a love strong enough to reunite a family. Bill seems to be watching “Cheers” episodes on DVD.
I tried to call over to Nancy’s for several hours today and it kept going to voice mail. Phil emailed later and said that Joyce and Vera will be coming for a visit tomorrow so I should contact Vonnie from church and let her know she doesn’t need to cover while Phillip goes for his PT appointment. I have called and called Vonnie’s and only get a busy signal. I finally emailed but don’t know if she’ll get that or not.
I haven’t knit a single stitch today and only listened to the audio book while eating a big crab and shrimp spinach salad for dinner so I’m off to do one or both before I hit the sack. The following was on the cover of the handout for the memorial service I played for June 20.
I can only imagine…
Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence,
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Halellujah,
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
Didn't get away from Nancy's until after six tonight. Phillip had his first session of physical therapy. He was doing so well he only has to go twice a week.
Nancy had another pretty good day. I fixed an omelet with mushrooms, spinach, crab and cheese which we both enjoyed for breakfast. Noon came and went and about about one we had a root beer float. She was up in the recliner most of the day again.
We came by the house and I cleaned up a bit and then we went to dinner at the newly opened restaurant in Key Center. Now I can give Barbara a report on it tomorrow. We ordered the 1/2 bucket of clams for an appetizer. I'm not sure what their idea of a bucket is since there were only 10 clams in this dish. I liked my Swiss mushroom and onion burger better than Bill's seafood sautee. I bet you can't believe I'm saying that! I also finally got a taste of the popular sweet potato french fries. They were quite good.
After dinner we drove down to the Glen Cove area and enjoyed the serenity of the water. We could hear kids over at Camp Seymour. Bill went there as a boy and we have pictures of Clint when we toured the place some years back. The highlight of the drive was when Bill spied a bald eagle and shortly after I sighted a blue heron.
Back at home I talked to Nancy's sister Vera and told her that she can wait and come later. Hopefully she'll be able to be here on July 22nd when I have plans to attend the Tacoma Rainiers Stitch and Pitch with Barbara and Julianne.
Now I'm ready to hit the sack. I woke at 4:30 this morning and it took an hour to get back to sleep so my tailfeathers were dragging part of the day. I did manage a short power nap when Nancy was dozing but I'm still more than ready to put my body to bed.
When troubles mount
and worries grow large
Remind me, Lord,
of who's in charge.
When I was done catching up with stuff on the computer yesterday, I settled into Clint's recliner (yes, it will always be Clint's chair!). I finished knitting another hat. Bill was part way into "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" so I watched the rest of it with him. Eventually bedtime rolled around. While Bill slept, I read and dozed and finished "A Woman Betrayed."
I had an order to work on this morning so I took care of that before we left for Nancy's. We got here a little before nine. Bill checked to see if there was anything we needed here and then Annette headed off to work. She called awhile later looking for her watch but I couldn't find it anywhere here.
Nancy was sitting in the recliner eating an apple fritter when I arrived. She stayed in the chair until after lunch. I brought a Vietnamese crab soup mix for lunch. We tasted the broth and when it was deemed edible, we added some of our crab meat to it. After lunch she settled into bed for a nap before the bath aide came at three.
Judy and her daughter arrived with dinner just as Darlene, the bath aide, was leaving. Phillip ran some errands after work and arrived home about 5:30. He was ready to eat so we all had some dinner. He wasn't interested in watching a chick flick with us so he put it on and retired to the computer room while Nancy and I watched "Evening" - a drama exploring the romantic past and emotional present of Ann Grant and her daughters. Since it was a flashback style movie, Nancy had a bit of a problem keeping up and wasn't always sure who the people were so I explained as necessary. It wasn't the most exciting movie ever, but it was something to watch besides HGTV for a change. 
Now we have a couple of hours until her final pill time for the night with bed soon to follow.
Oh, I almost forgot the big news of the day - my doll sweater got accepted for the upcoming "One Skein Wonder" book using sock yarn. Yippee.... The other news wasn't so good. Cousin Bill saw the doctors today in Seattle. The aspergillus seems to be receding. I thought it was doing that two plus months ago! He hasn't felt good for several weeks and it was determined that he has been taking about three times the amount of anti-rejection meds he was supposed to. As a result, his kidneys were shutting down! Now they have to wait and see if the kidneys were damaged by this. What next! 
Definitely a time to remember that God is in control and there is a plan.
With no television to watch, we’re watching movies. Galaxy Quest was better than I expected. And keeping with the “outer space” theme, we watched “Muppets from Outer Space.” I’m also moving right along with my current book. For once it is actually holding my interest instead of being a big disappointment from the gitgo. In fact, I dozed and read until about two this morning as I didn’t want to put the book down!
I still haven’t caught up with Deanna to know what happened with her doctor visits last week. I did, however, finally talk with Loretta. I didn’t realize it had been so long since I last talked with her. I discovered that a year and a half ago she was visiting her daughter in New Mexico and had a heart attack. She had complete memory loss as a result although I hadn’t heard of that before. I read that if it lasts over a year it is permanent. Hmmm… I suppose it could have to do with lack of oxygen during the heart attack. Anyway, she wanted to know how to do the machine knit buttonholes. I told her I’d find written instructions with pictures and send them to her. I took care of that tonight.
This was my first day back at the keyboard at church. It was nice to tickle the ivories once again and folks seemed happy have me back playing and singing. I went by Nancy’s on the way home to drop off the angel for Annette. That gave her time to fix up a card to go with it. Joyce was there for a visit. Nancy was using her walker to get around some so I was happy to see that. Phillip was out mowing the lawn with his riding mower. I got a call from him later this afternoon wanting to know where the pain pills for his shoulder had gotten off to. Uh huh!
Bill had soy chicken cooking when I got home so we ate when that was done. It was very good. That is his one “specialty” item in the kitchen. After that I fired up the computer. TK brought mine back today. He hasn’t replaced the fans yet but cleaned things up, removed some large dust clumps, oiled the fans, etc. It didn’t squeal when it started so I told him to hold off on ordering the fans for a few days and see what it does. At least I got caught up with all my online banking, paperwork for last week’s orders and email that I didn’t get to check before TK took the computer away on Saturday.
Hardening of the heart ages more people than hardening of the arteries. - Unknown
I stayed in bed till almost ten o'clock this morning. Whoo hoooo..... I first woke a little after seven but decided I'd crawl back in after the bathroom run. I read a bit on Barbara Delinsky's "A Woman Betrayed" and eventually fell back to sleep. I found that book at the little thrift store we perused last week. I've always enjoyed her books and this one definitely caught my interest.
Since I was in a hurry when I wrote last night, I didn't mention that everyone seemed happy to have me back at music rehearsal. It went pretty well considering I hadn't played the keyboard since sometime around mid-April. As I was coming up on the first part of the circular driveway at home a doe ran across in front of me. As I crossed that end of the driveway I saw a second deer. I drove slowly but couldn't see them when I drove up the up part of the driveway to the garage. I got out of the car and walked toward the house and then I saw them again down in front of the big pine tree. I walked over to the living room window and saw that Bill was in the laundry room. I tapped on the window and when I got his attention I pointed and he looked out and saw the deer. When I got into the house he got his binoculars and saw that one of the deer was a spike whose horns are just beginning to fork. So Bill was a happy camper after seeing that.
I saw last night that the hummingbird feeder was low. This morning it was bone dry so Bill brought it in and I refilled it. He took off for Key Center and I came into the back to do email, etc. I looked out the window and had a hummingbird who was, I suppose, attracted by the light hovering outside the window looking in. That is always so cute to watch.
Nadine called this morning and we caught up on the news. She had her cataract surgery in one eye on Wednesday and it went well. I guess she gradually sees better every day. The doctor would like her to do the other one but she wants to wait. I called Deanna to see what has happened with her this week but got no answer at home or on her cell phone. I got a call earlier in the week from my old knitting friend Loretta. Neither of us was home at the time so she left a message. She mentioned that she has been sick and couldn't remember how to do something with her machine knitting and wanted my help. Of course, it has been so long since I did any machine knitting that I don't know if I'll be much help or not. I also got an email from Beth. Her Bill has an appointment in Seattle on Monday. She didn't say if the aspergillus has cleared up or not but Bill isn't feeling good so I guess not.
I talked to Nancy's best friend Joyce last night and caught her up on the week's doing. I knew she would be worried when Nancy didn't want her to visit this week. I also talked to Nancy's sister Vera. We've talked about her coming down next Thursday and Friday for a visit. At first I told her it probably wasn't necessary since Phillip would be home all week. However, after things have gone the way they have with Nancy this week, I'm not sure Phillip will do well with five whole days alone with caring for Nancy. Since he is going to work Monday and Tuesday after all, Annette plans to stay Sunday night. I'll relieve her Monday morning and stay till Phillip gets home from his first physical therapy session Tuesday after work.
Bill's mother called this morning. She'll be coming up July 28th and will be in the area until August 10th when she flies to Reno to visit Karen (one of Bill's older sisters) and her husband Michael. She was trying to make some plans. I told her my plans would be based on the situation with Nancy at the time.
We finished the "Eating in Canton" series last night. Wow! They use EVERY part of any creature in various dishes. I like the Asian dishes I've had here in the United States, but I'm afraid I'd go hungry if I visited China. I think I'd be afraid to eat anything not knowing what it was. Once we were done with that series we started "Discover China: A Peking Duck's Tale." We got about a half hour into that one and Bill was ready to go to bed so we'll probably finish it today. Somehow or another, Netflix sent me two movies at the same time, even though I'm on the "one at a time" program. I need to see if it something I actually want to watch and get that done so it doesn't hold us up.
Checked in with Phillip and Nancy was doing ok so far today. She got up this morning and used the walker to get around a bit, went out on the back deck to check out her lily - It is about ready to bloom - and went back to bed. He said her friend Joyce is coming over tomorrow to visit so that is good. And that reminds me that I actually embroidered something yesterday. You may remember that Nancy had me do the lace angels for her siblings plus an extra one. I thought she was going to give the extra one to Annette but it went to Joyce and that hurt Annette's feelings. I told Nancy I would make one for Annette so when I was back here yesterday working on the computer, I fired up the embroidery machine. It took me a few minutes to remember what to do but I got it going and finished the angel.
I've rambled on long enough for one day so I'll leave you with a bit of humor.
Jacob, age 92, and Ethel, age 89, living in Texas, are excited about their decision to get married. They go for a stroll to discuss the wedding, and on the way they pass a drugstore. Jacob suggests they go in.
Jacob addresses the man behind the counter: "Are you the owner?"
The pharmacist answers: "Yes."
Jacob: "We're about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?"
Pharmacist: "Of course we do."
Jacob: "How about medicine for circulation?"
Pharmacist: "All kinds."
Jacob: "Medicine for rheumatism?"
Pharmacist: "Definitely."
Jacob: "How about suppositories?"
Pharmacist: "You bet!"
Jacob: "Medicine for memory problems, arthritis, and Alzheimer's?"
Pharmacist: "Yes, a large variety. The works."
Jacob: "What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson's disease?"
Pharmacist: "Absolutely."
Jacob: "Everything for heartburn and indigestion?"
Pharmacist: "We sure do."
Jacob: "You sell wheelchairs and walkers and canes?"
Pharmacist: "All speeds and sizes."
Jacob: "Adult diapers?"
Pharmacist: "Sure."
Jacob: "We'd like to use this store as our Bridal Registry."
I got up this morning and got into the email. Took me until about time to leave for the chiropractor to trim it down. I'm reading it off the server and I can only leave so much on there before they cut me off.
I left for Key Center in time to pick up the mail and when I got to the office, they were backed up. As it turned out that was good because there was a lady there who needed some consoling and Claudia (Dr. Dave's receptionist) and I did our best to help her out.
When I got home for my "adjustment" (Dr. Dave gets bent out of shape when I refer to him cracking my vertebrae), I got a hot shower. I thought maybe that would help me feel better.
We left for Taste of Tacoma about 1:30. We thought there would be less people there today. We couldn't believe how many folks were there!! I can only imagine the throngs that will be there tomorrow and Sunday!
Anyway, we were there for about 4 1/2 hours. We walked and walked and tasted numerous goodies. We also saw one act at the Comedy Club. We saw all the wares of the many vendors. Some things we liked were just too expensive to consider.
Now we're settled in for the evening and I'm going to finish the Discover China: Eating in Canton series with Bill. I did check in on Nancy. She had a bad patch after I left yesterday but has been ok today.
I have finished my week at Nancy's. After Phillip went to bed last night, Nancy and I watched HGTV until 11:30 or so. She had not eaten dinner when I got back but she was hungry around 9'ish so I gave her some of the mashed potatoes and pork chop that Carol O brought for dinner.
I woke at 6:30 this morning and heard noises coming from the other room. I thought I better check but it was just Nancy sawing logs. She told me Wednesday morning that I was breathing hard. I told her how Bill sometimes has to wake me from bad dreams.
When it came time to fix breakfast, Nancy was in on the computer where she stayed for over two hours. She wasn't interested in the cheesy grits I fixed. She didn't know what she was missing and I sure enjoyed them with a fried egg. When she finished with the computer stuff she partook of a bowl of fruit with a slice of cheese. I managed to cut my thumb when cutting the cheese. It took awhile for it to quit bleeding.
Around noon I cooked the three ears of corn that Phillip brought home yesterday. We had some of that with a slice of tomato and some of the leftover mashed potatoes and pork chop.
The hospice bath aide finally arrived just before three. We were still working with Nancy when Phillip arrived home a little before four. I told him what he needed to know, gathered up my stuff and we came home. Now my plan is to shower, eat and head off to music team rehearsal. That said, I'm going to move along for today.
I couldn't get here last night. Nancy had another bad patch yesterday afternoon so once Phillip went to bed, I didn't want to leave her alone out in there since she was awake. I still don't have my computer. I checked with TK today and he has to order some new fans so I don't know when I'll get it back. I've had some orders but so far have been able to handle them through Paypal.
The plan was for me to go home tonight but Annette called last night and said she was running a fever so that took care of that. I went home this afternoon when Phillip got home from work. After a shower I filled up my pill box. Bill fixed me something to eat while I did that. Then we watched two episodes of Discover China: Eating in Canton. The first episode was about all the chicken they eat and the second one was about all the snake they eat. Gross on the snake. Thankfully I was done with my dinner by time that was shown. 
Now I'm back at Nancy's for the night. They are finishing up a movie so I thought I'd catch up here. Onward and upward!
Bill brought me to Nancy's about 8:30 this morning. That's where I am now. Annette stayed last night and Nancy wound up in a heap on the bathroom floor again. Annette got her back up onto the toilet seat but was unable to get up her from there and back to bed. She had to get Phillip to help out. The elevated toilet seat for that bathroom arrived today so hopefully that won't happen again although Nancy is obviously getting weaker.
I went back to the bedroom bath mid-morning to bring Nancy back to the front room and found her hanging over the bathroom sink. That totally wiped her out and I put her back to bed with an extra dose of pain meds. I really think the coffee she drank helped create the problem.
By one o'clock she was able to eat some mashed potatoes and green beans that I had left from dinner last night. That appeared milder than most everything else I found in the fridge.
So it has not been a good day for Nancy. She has been in bed since eleven this morning and has slept most of the day. Phillip didn't get home until going on six o'clock so I didn't make any effort to go home or even out. He will be going to work an hour earlier in the morning and so he went to bed at seven. His heart is really hurting for Nancy. It is hard to see your loved one suffer.
Inbetween everything else, I've knit on a hat and listened to more of "Careless in Red." I'm in the last hour of that book.
I'm icing my foot as I write. There is a good bit of swelling in the ankle and also in the foot. Hmmm... It was almost nine o'clock before I got up this morning. Since I heard a good sermon yesterday I played hookey from church morning.
Dawn called and wished Bill "Happy Father's Day" and chatted for awhile. He also talked to Reign. Our outing for the day included going to see the movie "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock. We both enjoyed that and got some good laughs. That was followed by dinner at Tanglewood Grill. My flatiron steak was overcooked for my tastes but Bill's prime rib was just perfect. He also really enjoyed the French onion soup.
I'm still listening to "Careless in Red" and I'm up to part 15 out of 18. I talked to Nancy briefly tonight and she didn't sound very good. We'll see what tomorrow brings on that score. Annette said to be there by nine a.m. to relieve her. I have most everything packed up and ready to stay over again Monday and Tuesday nights. Now I'm going to settle in Clint's recliner and put my swollen foot up.
Hi Diane. Was finally able to get out cyberwalking again and wanted to check on you and see what you were up to ... 
Hi Carol, I get a "lump in my chest" reading your thoughts that you share .. thanks for reminding us how life is a 
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