Common Kibitzing

This week has been a bust! Tuesday night my stomach started hurting. Wednesday my stomach was in my throat all day. Thursday and Friday involved many trips to the bathroom and unhappy stomach cramps. Today has involved stomach cramps still but I'm feeling a bit better. At least three other people have been out at work so maybe it's just a bug that's going around. Whatever it is, I want it gone.

Needless to say, I have gotten very little done today except making mom a new rice bag for her shoulders. I intended to make myself one but don't have, or didn't readily find, a big enough scrap for the second one. I made a square one for my eyes instead but still want to make the shoulder one. Mom heats and uses hers multiple times a day and finds it very helpful.

The last one I made her suffered a fatal accident on Friday when dad pulled on it, not realizing he was laying on it, and tore it almost in half. The fabric was dingy and weak so it was time for a new one anyway. I love this fabric. I wish I had enough to make a dress out of it but this is all I have.

They moved Dad on Friday to Eugene Rehab. They took him off all his narcotics because of his reaction to them which has left him with just Tylenol to manage the pain. They speculate that his kidney function is too slow to remove the drugs from his system. This is suboptimal and he has a lot of pain and is very discouraged. He's been occasionally plain out mean and nasty. This makes it harder to be sympathetic. In addition the protocols that the facility has for managing diabetic insulin is insufficient to manage his blood sugar and he's had his highest ever blood sugar readings. (Max dose is 13 units, dad regularly takes 75-100, especially given the high carb meals that they provide). It's hard to hear him so discouraged.

Mom is frustrated and discouraged too. She hasn't been able to leave during the day even to get food for herself (the facility has nothing to offer her) and she is just now (8:30) eating for the first time since this morning. This makes her cranky!

The facility has been trying since Friday to get an order for Tylenol 3, hoping it might work where the other meds have been too much but his Drs office hasn't responded. Mom plans to make a stink about it tomorrow.

They administered a cognitive function test to dad today and he got 14 out of 30 questions correct. This is worrisome because we don't know how much is related to his current condition and how much is long term. It confirms what mom and I have both notice about his decreased cognitive function in the last couple of years but we are hoping it won't stay quite this severe.

On the other hand, he walked 23 feet today, which is farther than yesterday and he has 93 (% or degrees) of flexion which is pretty good. Extension is a little harder.

We are going to have to make some accommodations at home. We'll remove the shower doors and install bars. I sure wish we'd been able to get the remodel done before now so that they had a more open layout and a walk in shower but it just wasn't possible.

I know I chose to stay in this area so I could help in this sort of situation but I find it frustrating too and I'm not available much because of my job. I know mom doesn't want me taking time off to help but I may look into FMLA if this goes on too long. They figure dad will be at the rehab facility for at least two weeks but mom is going to need some respite care if his improvement is really slow.

I decided to make chili with the contents of my fridge and pantry and a crockpot. Ingredients:
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 can white kidney beans
1 can black beans
4 pints of home canned tomatoes
5 small sweet peppers diced
~1 cup green chilies
3 large handfuls sliced mushrooms
1 medium diced onion
1.5 T diced garlic
2 T chili powder
1 t cumin
Black pepper

I browned the hamburger over med low heat with the onions and garlic. Dumped into CP.
Sautéed the mushrooms and sweet peppers in the green chilies and a splash of water. Dumped in CP and added the rest of the ingredients. Stirred very carefully to keep the CP from over flowing. I'll let it simmer on low until I go to bed. Hopefully it will be hearty and tasty with cheese.

It turns out that Mom didn't realize I had received my tax return and couldn't figure out how I had all this "extra" money when they were having to help me out.
In the mean time, I have figured out a way to pay my bills without the help but not very comfortably.
However, they insist on paying the loan for now. There was a big brouhaha first. Mom is still upset but she's not talking so it can't be helped.
Family! What can you do? I choose to not continue to let it upset me. I'll keep working on finding a better job so it's not such a tight squeeze to pay the bills each month.

Some time during the last week of Holly's life, a cat peed on the floor next to my love seat, perhaps several times. I don't know which cat but it was, but probably, hopefully, Holly. It smelled awful, and for the last week I've been scrubbing on the floor but not finding the right spot or method to remove the stench. I picked up some enzyme cleaner with an orange fragrance because the scented one was on sale. The combination of orange and cat urine was nauseating and I'd had about all I could take. I wanted to avoid my usual nest because of it. I know the enzyme cleaner works! I've proven it for myself several times. So I had to conclude that I wasn't getting it into the right spot.

Tonight, when I got home, I moved all the furniture away from that space, put about two inches of hot water into a bucket, added some cleaner, and preceded to pour it all over the floor determining the parameters by nose. I scrubbed it in with my fingers and then sucked it up with the little green clean machine. Then I poured full strength cleanser on the floor in generous quantities and worked it in with my fingers. I allowed it to sit for about 20 minutes and slurped up the excess with the green machine. It smells incredibly orange but I don't smell urine at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I got it and that the carpet will dry. I'll use the green machine again to bring up any excess water if it hasn't dried in a couple of days but the enzymatic cleaner works as it dries so I want to give it a chance to work.

While the living room smells distinctly citrus, the kitchen smells wonderful! Before starting on the floor project, I started tamale chicken in the crockpot and set a chicken stock (with some chicken) to steep with onions, garlic, carrots, and parsnips. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I had cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot and couldn't let the juices go to waste. The carcass simmered overnight and needed some flavoring. Besides, my parsnips needed cooked. I found a recipe for creamy cauliflower soup that I will use part of the stock for tomorrow. Tonight it is cooling- I've strained out all the bits and pieces but suspect it will need another skimming, once it cools, to remove more fat.

The tamale chicken smells great but it's a new recipe for me so I'm not sure what to expect. It's fairly low carb and makes good use of the chicken that I just can't eat plain.

It starts with onions and green chilies. Then adds sour cream, olives, cheese, cream of chicken soup (I used mushroom because I didn't have chicken), a can of beef tamales, chopped, chicken (8 chicken breast halves but I used the whole chicken and it looked adequate), a can of stewed tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, and pepper. It's mixed all together and topped with more cheese. It looks like the best sort of glop and smells divine! I'll have it for lunch tomorrow with some avocado and more sour cream.

Friday morning I decided to rinse one of my wool dresses in the tub. I flipped the lever and put a little water in with some Woolite to soak. The tub drained to quickly for a good soak and so I spot cleaned, rinsed and hung it to dry.
Saturday morning I went to shower and the tub wouldn't drain. Dad suggested that maybe the plunger unit needed to be adjusted so I took the lever plate off and gently pulled the mechanism up to discover the bottom half missing. That would explain the plugged tub, of course, but try as I might I could not get a hold of the other half that was still in the pipe. I had appointments so dad came over in the evening and went fishing he was very successful and the other piece came out on his first try.

We decided to replace the old assembly with a new one and had it all affixed to the lever plate when we discovered that the pipe and the assembly were not of the same vintage standard and, hence, the new assembly would not fit in the old pipe. So we went back to the old pieces and put it all back together. We ran so water and... It still wouldn't drain. We pulled the drain plug back out and the water didn't drain... Apparently the two were not related. I ran a full bottle of drain cleaner through it- it slowly leaked out but water still stood in the tub.

I took my shower this morning and ended up standing in ankle deep water which still hadn't drained an hour and a half later.

Dad tried to use a snake but the pipe angles wouldn't allow it. We ran about two boxes of baking soda and a full bottle of vinegar into the drain. It was fun chemistry but didn't fix the problem.

So now, all that's left is to call a plumber, or plan on bailing water after every shower. Of course I don't have any money for the plumber. I am incredibly frustrated to the point of wanting to scream and throw things.

Blessings:
Quiet day
Surplus picked up the furniture that made us non-compliant with fire code BEFORE the fire Marshall's inspection!
I got the furniture all moved where I wanted it in the forth floor
Had a nice lunch with Karla.

Challenges:
It sounds like both Karla and Amy may have jobs elsewhere shortly- since I'm the only one who knows how to do their jobs I expect I'll be asked to fill in for at least scheduling and licensure request. This has me anxious in the extreme. It should just be for a short time and in kind of an off season as it were.
I'm feeling really tired still and it's a struggle to go to work. But I'm employed and can go to work.

Blessings:
Ah the wonder of a hot tub on a cool fall morning.
I finished another skirt
I spent the afternoon with my mom looking at scrapbook stores we hadn't been to before. I love that I can spend time with my mom and feel like I'm with a best friend!
I had a cuddle bug kitty today that wouldn't leave me alone but he was so stinking cute I couldn't even get irritated at the interruptions
I think I have adequate food to get me through next week without buying additional groceries.

Challenges:
Money is a bit tight but it makes me careful of my spending and I consider carefully before making a purchase.
My adventures in stamping on my handmade cards are not going so great- but I'm learning to be patient.
In sewing my skirt, I may have inadvertently turn one if the pieces wrong side up but since it was all together with hand finished seems before I noticed, I'm not going to do anything about it. It isn't noticeable from any reasonable distance and I'm not even 100% sure that's what happened; it could just be the lighting. I'm working on letting go of minor imperfections.

Blessings:
Life isn't about work, even though we spend a great deal of time there.
Coworker and friend who gives me feedback to help me keep on track.
Supportive family and mostly reliable ways to get ahold of them.

Challenges:
Paula is bossing me around and I have no recourse. I get tired of always having to bow to her will, even though she isn't my boss. Today made me cry, but I didn't let her see it. Fortunately, today was just about a bathroom window-a stupid issue. It only hurt the pride I'm trying to subdue anyway and I could walk away and make a phone call to my family who encouraged me.

Furniture today was moved a little awkwardly, resulting on a meeting with no tables or chairs available and I didn't frame the conversation as I tried to fix it very well. I want to apologize tomorrow but I'm glad I've worked with these installers often enough that they didn't seem offended. Unfortunately I didn't notice the problem until it was pointed out to me. See blessing above the coworker.

Today was a bit rough but life isn't about work and I was able to come home and enjoy my evening- even though that means early bed again tonight.

Blessings:
Busy day-made it go fast!
I just realized that when every one is moved into the building in early December, I will have finished a four year project. Awesome sense of accomplishment! I've also established a good reputation for efficiency and efficacy with facilities.
This might give me job opportunities down the road if I want them.
My house is comfortable and I have homemade lasagna for lunches this week

Challenges:
No major challenges today
I'm still tired but I can go to bed now!