Stressing myself out....

I'm sure that life is playing a part in the stress but I know that I am making it worse by trying to plan for the (next to) worse case scenario.

My mom is having major surgery on Wednesday.  It's being done as non-invasively as possible but it's still major surgery (Her insides are trying to become her outsides and they need to anchor everything back inside- isn't aging fun?).  Now, my mother IS Super Woman but I just don't think she's going to jump up from this surgery and be able to do everything around the house and take care of Dad.

Dad is just recovering from his knee surgery and although he's doing fairly well and walking without aid, he is still wobbly on his pins because of the neuropathy in his feet and his knee is too week to do any lifting or pushing kinds of activities.  His memory is also not what it used to be so someone needs to be with him at his doctor's appointments to remember the doctor's instructions and information.

To this end, I suspect my help is going to be needed off and on for the next 6 weeks at least. I know Dad has an appointment on Monday afternoon to see the doctor about a retinal hemorrhage.  I need to be there for that.  I may need to be there to help get Mom home from the hospital on Thursday night but I just don't know.  We don't know how mobile she's going to be  and how much pain and soreness she will have. I know she's not supposed to lift, stretch, or bend too much, which means her ability to cook in her kitchen is limited and Dad is not the best of cooks.  He can cook bachelor food, which is mostly high carb and high fat.  With his diabetes and high cholesterol, this is not the best option for food.  So I've committed to cooking at least two crockpot meals a week for them.  They may get sick of the food but it will be healthier, hopefully.  I think Dad, or Mom with his help, can cook a vegetable and coordinate other ingredients.  Thursday they will be getting Swedish meatballs.  Other items on the menu are: Swiss steak, pulled pork, spaghetti, cauliflower chowder, & maybe a vegetable lasagna.  I'm working on the rest of the menu yet. I'm also open to low carb suggestions.  I am hoping I'll make enough for me too so that I'm not double cooking each week.

I am in the process of getting the FMLA paperwork put together, although I don't expect to need, nor can I afford, to go beyond my paid sick leave.  Mom's doctor has to fill out the paperwork and I expected a bit of resistance from Mom (Super Woman doesn't need help, you know!) but she was amiable and promised to get it to the Doctor's office and signed.

To be honest, I'm stressing about time since I still have stuff to do for Egils, but I need to be there for them more than I need new clothes for Egils. I would like new clothes for Egils and the selections in my garb trunk are getting a bit limited but need is something different.   I'm afraid that a lot of my "spare" evenings between now and Egils may be taken up by running errands or otherwise providing a hand to Mom and Dad, which would leave me little time to sew.  I will be disappointed, but it's okay because this is the choice I am making, and it's the right one.  I also still want to finish getting my garden in  before Egils but that is probably only a couple of hours of work.

I expect to buy in to a kitchen for Egils but I'll likely have to supplement since my low grain/sugar diet is rather limiting. That means figuring out what works for events since I haven't been on this diet during eventing season before. I have eggs in the pickle pot but I can't eat too many of them because of the sugar content of the pickle juice.  I imagine nuts, fruit, and cheese will be what I pack but it sounds kind of boring, frankly.  I'll have a better idea how much I'll need to supplement when the kitchen menu is posted.

Last night I finished cleaning up the mess I made when I forgot basic physic and tried to shake up boiling water for gravy in a closed container.


I'd cleaned up the walls, cupboards, and counters but I still needed to take care of the dishes. Fortunately, the lid was pointed away from me so I didn't get sprayed with boiling gravy.  What a mess though!  This is why I cook at my own house.  My mom starts hyperventilating about the messes I make in the kitchen.  I am a messy cook, even when I'm not exploding things.  I see a lot of cleaning in my immediate future when I am doing a little more cooking.  Of course, that's always my favorite thing!


On a more upbeat note, my parents went to see my aunt, uncle, and cousin yesterday and I sent Andrea's socks with them.  I got a text a few minutes later with a delighted squeee and a picture:

She loves them and she thinks they fit great.  I think they look a little baggy on her leg but she says not.  She has really oddly shaped feet because of he rheumatoid arthritis so I was working from measurements made when she only wanted footy socks.  I had to wing it on the calf portion and I suspect there is some muscle atrophy there also because of inactivity. Still, I'm pleased that she likes loves them.