Thanksgiving

Front left to back:
Rick, Chris, Jason, Yvonne, Scott, Aksana, Alyona, Luke, Maria

Noisy Grackles

Tonight Rick and I were picking up soda at Walmart. For some reason the Walmarts in Texas are Grackles Haven. Tonight they were setting up such a cacophony it was straight out of Hitchcock's The Birds.

I'm trying to get a video to post. As soon as I figure it out, or get someone to help, I will post it.

Wimpy Texans

The boys have played in the churches' Turkey Bowl since we moved to Indiana in 1996. They might have missed one year, but that would be all. So I called around and found out where this year's Turkey Bowl would be played; Jason and Christopher showed up at the appointed time - 9:30 - which is quite late in the morning to begin a Turkey bowl; usually they start at 8 or 8:30, no later than 9. Plus they were even 5-10 min late, only to discover that the game hadn't started and they were still picking teams. Scott couldn't go, he needs knee surgery (he destroyed his knees playing goalkeeping in High School.

At 11 the boys walked back in the door. I was amazed, usually they are gone for at least 3 hours. No, for the second year, the wimpy Texans shut down the game early. Jason especially was so disappointed.

Here Jason is in all his football gear glory.

Rock climbing

Kincade put this pic of Stella and Macy rock wall climbing on the photo stream. They must be really high because they look little against the wall. They are brave.

Pinochle

I love to play pinochle from an ap on my iPad. I got this hand a few days ago; in real life these type of hands rarely, rarely come up. Note that it is 1,000 aces.

Let the painting begin!!

I love all the colors they chose; this house will look quite modern when they are finished. Cabinets go in on Tues. Destroying is finished - creating begins.

 

When Picasso came to our house...

I was cleaning upstairs and came across this piece of art on the wall. It kinda looks like I can see Hattie's signature there at the bottom. Rick got upset when I washed off Stella's handprint in the bathroom in North Carolina; I'm sure he will want this left also.

But then even I can see the artistry involved. It might be worth something in a few years.

Paris is bleeding, how soon before all the West likewise?

SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “It must be incredibly frustrating as an Islamic terrorist not to have your views and motives taken seriously by the societies you terrorize, even after you have explicitly and repeatedly stated them,” self-described “Iraqi born writer & founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement” Faisal Saeed Al Mutar notes:

Even worse, those on the regressive left, in their endless capacity for masochism and self-loathing, have attempted to shift blame inwardly on themselves, denying the terrorists even the satisfaction of claiming responsibility.
It’s like a bad Monty Python sketch:
“We did this because our holy texts exhort us to to do it.”
“No you didn’t.”
“Wait, what? Yes we did…”
“No, this has nothing to do with religion. You guys are just using religion as a front for social and geopolitical reasons.”
“WHAT!? Did you even read our official statement? We give explicit Quranic justification. This is jihad, a holy crusade against pagans, blasphemers, and disbelievers.”
“No, this is definitely not a Muslim thing. You guys are not true Muslims, and you defame a great religion by saying so.”
“Huh!? Who are you to tell us we’re not true Muslims!? Islam is literally at the core of everything we do, and we have implemented the truest most literal and honest interpretation of its founding texts. It is our very reason for being.”
“Nope. We created you. We installed a social and economic system that alienates and disenfranchises you, and that’s why you did this. We’re sorry.”
“What? Why are you apologizing? We just slaughtered you mercilessly in the streets. We targeted unwitting civilians – disenfranchisement doesn’t even enter into it!”
“Listen, it’s our fault. We don’t blame you for feeling unwelcome and lashing out.”
“Seriously, stop taking credit for this! We worked really hard to pull this off, and we’re not going to let you take it away from us.”
“No, we nourished your extremism. We accept full blame.”
“OMG, how many people do we have to kill around here to finally get our message across?”

Or as Mark Steyn writes, “‘Why do they hate us?’ was never the right question. ‘Why do they despise us?’ is a better one.”

The 4 S's

Sleep
Stress
Sun
Sickness
These are the things that cause cold sores to form if you have that virus and genetic disposition to get them. Which I do.

Ever since I returned from Utah my ears have been ringing louder than usual. Last Wed I drove Alyona to the airport and came home on HW 45, which has a speed limit of 80 (and sounded like they were concrete roads instead of asphalt). It made so much noise that it upset my ears and by the time I got home they were screaming. And remained screaming. Finally on Mon the loudness had stressed my body so much I was thinking, I can't live with this, I need to get out my book on tinnitus and review options, which aren't many. I was lying in bed and told Rick, And now my lips are hurting!!

I got up Tues morning - yes, 3 Three THREE cold sores had formed on my upper lip. I usually only get them on my lower, which is why I didn't recognize the true source of the pain. Thank goodness for whoever decided that Valtrex (probably a Herpes med?) would work for cold sores (which are herpes simplex also).

This morning, Wed, the meds have kicked in, the pain is mostly gone, and thankfully, my ears are not screaming. Ringing louder than they have at the lowest, but not screaming.

I feel human again.

Ggrrls in stocks at Corn Belly

Macy, Stella, Hattie

What horrible crime did they commit?!!
Paige had bought tickets for Corn Belly's Corn Maze, then everyone got sick and they couldn't go on the weekend she had scheduled. The only open time left was Halloween morning/afternoon; Kincade was working so I went with Paige and the ggrrls. It was quite fun - lots and lots of activities for kids. We stayed 3 or so hours and could have easily stayed longer and been well entertained.

It wasn't cheap, I think around $10 a ticket, but well worth it. Plus I just got to spend time with my adorable ggrrls!!

But I do wish they wouldn't be bad so they could stay out of the stocks.

It's not hot anymore

Alyona is starting to enjoy Austin a more now that the weather has cooled down, we have gray, cloudy skies, and it rains. The heat really zaps her and she doesn't like it. Yay. Plus she works from home one day a week, goes to Georgetown one day, so 2 out of 5 days no miserable drive.

It has been nice to have them here - finally a child in the same city I live!! Especially fun when they have a little munchkin. Nano and Papaw are ready for little Christina or Atticus to be so close.

Chris is working, working, always working on his house. I'm amazed at how much has been accomplished. They have in the garage all their appliances, kitchen cabinets. He is now working on drywall and texturing, then will start painting. After that comes hardwood floors, then carpet - and voila, it is finished!

Ears

Don't read this if you don't want to hear ANYMORE about my ears.
I can't see a pattern when they start ringing unusually loud. I wish I could. Sometimes they are so loud they give me a headache, and I have to go to a quiet room and have no noise at all. I know I complain too much, when they could be worse, or something worse could be happening to me.

Sometimes a noise, scraping the last ice cream out of a bowl, tv, music, seems to make my whole head worse. Being in Chris' empty house, with cement floors (so no noise abatement) can be bad.

I really do hate to complain about them since I know Rick's ring also, and his are loud. Plus his hip hurts so badly he can hardly walk at times. It always throbs up and down his leg, yet he seldom complains.

Am I a complainy pants?

Skeleton jamies

When Paige was pregnant with Stella she created a Halloween costume showing her skeleton and a baby skeleton in her stomach. I thought it was so unusual; now I see lots of skeleton jamies, sweats, tshirts, etc. Macy has a rib skeleton shirt showing candy in the stomach area (or maybe it's Hattie's. Nano can't remember details).

That's a cute shirt

I wish I had saved more of my clothing for Paige. She has several dresses, a pair of boots, and this shirt. I guess nothing ever really goes out of style.

Well, maybe corsets aren't stylish anymore. Thanks goodness, since I do enjoy breathing.

Halloween

I wasn't going to stay for Trick-or-Treating in Utah because I haven't been home for Halloween in five years and Chris, Alyona, Rick and I had plans. Paige found out and told me to stay so I changed my ticket until Sun (then decided to stay even longer and extended until Wed). The Upstills came over and we all went out together on Sat night. Paige left her bucket of candy out on the front step so all the kiddos could still get their candy while we all walked together.

Everyone in Paige's family dress up for Halloween; she has her Halloween party and guests are expected to come in costume, which they do (this year it was on Fri night).

After the ggrrls were done with their gathering of candy, they returned home and passed it out themselves. They had as much fun giving out candy as they did receiving it.

Alyona and Chris had a party on Friday night and dressed up, Chris under protest but knowing it's always best to do what the wife says.

I got a cookie here I really liked...

I left Kristi's house yesterday at 9:30, topped off the rental with gas and headed to the airport. Got the car checked in, hurried over to the Southwest skycap and gave him my suitcase (the skycaps at SLC airport are the best I have ever seen), went to TSA Pre - NO ONE was in line. Yay.

Weather in Salt Lake and Austin wasn't the greatest, but my flight was on time and I had an hour to spare, so I got a hamburger, read my iPad, then boarded. At Phoenix my luck changed; the flight that was supposed to leave at 3:15 was delayed until 6:40, then 6:10. I wandered the airport, finished my hamburger and decided to get a cookie I had before and enjoyed. I walked up and down B,C, and D concourses but couldn't find the cookie place. Finally I went to an info booth and said, I got a cookie here I really liked....He gave me 2 choices, Starbucks and Paradise. I knew it wasn't Starbucks, so I went to Paradise Bakery.

Yes, there was the most delish snickerdoodle ever!! So I bought 2, then decided on a blueberry scone. All were wonderful and didn't help my new weight loss at all.

After a bomb scare, my plane finally left, probably about 6:45 and I arrived home at 10pm. Rick picked me up.

His hip is hurting so badly he couldn't walk for much of this week and last. Finally he is convinced he must have the surgery in Jan or Feb, whenever the doc can do it. The consult appoint is set up for Nov 19, same doc he consulted with last Jan. I'm so glad he is finally doing it.

Home after visit with mom

Oct 23 Kristi sent out a text and pic of mom, telling us because of issues happening right then with Mom's health, she felt the end could be near. I decided to fly out on Sun the 25. Mom had been choking on her mucous so they began a new med program that included Mucinex and a thicken powder to put in all her drinks. It worked and she began to recover, at least as much as she recovers.

It is quite sad to see your mother in the final stages of this earth life. This is a day in her life:
Wakes and waits for the CNA to arrive, give her a bed bath, dress her.
Lifted and moved from her hospital bed to the wheelchair and into her chair in the living room.
Gary feeds her breakfast.
She then lies in her chair, drowsing off and on until lunch, 2pm.
Debbie, who comes to watch Mom while Gary leaves, feeds her lunch.
She is wearing a catheter for urine, but must be sat on the portable commode for BM.
Eats dinner at 4:30.
Moved from chair to bed at 5:00 and she sleeps.
She was always so vibrant and a doer and shaker. The strokes and pain have done in her vitality.
Kristi said she wouldn't eat dinner last night, said she wasn't going to eat again so that she could just die. I hope that changes and she will eat.

She has lost so much weight and is so fragile. She is/was a great mom. I really don't know how she accomplished all she did with the circumstances of her life. She will be greatly missed by all her family and friends.

Kristi is so tender and loving with mom. Just really dedicated this portion of her life to taking care of Mom in the final stage. Gary is incredible also; Rashelle lives there and is a sweet and helpful granddaughter.

Paige came over once with Macy and Hattie and brought her rolls and a few brownies.
Scott came over twice and brought lunch/dinner. He was able to stay longer and helped with Mom.

I love this pic of Macy and Mom. Macy was sitting in the chair next to Mom, I looked over and Mom was pulling Macy to sit on her lap. Paige said, is she too heavy Grandmother? No. It was so sweet.