The weekend

Friday, Paul and I did errands in the afternoon. Sure is nice to have company when doing such mundane things. Afterwards, he took me out to dinner :)

Saturday, we drove to Bismarck. It was a beautiful, sunshiney day and we were able to find the turquoise shower curtain I was looking for... at the first place we looked!

We both got new shoes, Paul got new jeans and a couple of shirts and we had lunch at the Big Boy. Always a highlight in my Bismarck shopping experience and I've turned Paul on to their fries and gravy :)

After we got home, Allison dropped the boys off for a few hours so she and Karter could go out for dinner with friends. It's sure nice to have help when I've got the boys. By the time Allison got back to pick them up, they were curled up on the couch alongside Paul & Stella, watching monster trucks on TV.

Today, I'm going to have dinner with my Grandma at the nursing home. Paul is going to watch the game with his Dad and Brother. I plan to bake cookies this afternoon and Paul will be coming up to try a new recipe I found for supper :) He's a great guy and I'm sure enjoying my time with him.

Stella's Big Day

After spending the morning at the groomer's, Stella went to the nursing home to visit. She got to see Grandma, my Dad and Alta Hove (Lerri's mom). Plus she got a lot of loving and hugs from the staff. She's sleeping "like a dog" now :)
Paul's coming to see her tonight. I haven't figured out if it's Stella or me he comes to see but every time he calls, he asks how she is and if she misses him.

Telephone call

Me: Hello?
Jameson: Grandma, when can we come to your house for supper? Can we come tomorrow night?

So, instead of my Mom and Paul coming for dinner tonight, Allison, Karter, my Mom, Paul , Jameson and Gage are coming :) Should be chaos as usual when they're all here. It'll be baptism by fire for Paul. Hope he's up for it :) Guess I'll have to cook an extra chicken.

Thank you, Chuck!

So, Mom and I started to pack up Grandma's apartment today. I did the kitchen and living room and Mom did the bathroom and utility closet. We carried a ton of stuff to the dumpster and packed the other stuff. Sad to see a life in boxes. The only room left is her bedroom. Long morning.

This afternoon the doctor at the hospital called and said he wasn't so sure Grandma should go to a nursing home. Couldn't she go home and have someone stay with her? Or could she go to an assisted living place? Uhh, no. Number one is that she can't afford assisted living and there's no one who can take care of her 24/7. Mom's an only child, eighty years old and has a husband in the nursing home for Pete's Sake! Doesn't he know that we've already considered the options? Just because Grandma said she could take care of herself, doesn't mean she can. She also says she's been widowed for 14 years. Try 60!!!

At any rate, Mom put a call in to Grandma's doctor (Chuck) who amazingly said that she belongs in a nursing home. DUH! Someone oughta slap that other doctor. I wish I knew who it was so I could do it myself.
UGH, today sucked!

Visiting Institiutions

Not only did Paul and I go visit Grandma yesterday, we also stopped at the nursing home to visit Dad. Both Grandma and Dad seemed to like him and he actually thought they were both cool people :) Grandma surprisingly didn't make any off the wall comments that embarrassed me, although she did tell him I have more purses than Carter has liver pills ;) And at least it gives Paul a little insight into who I am.
We have plans to get together Tuesday night and next weekend he's taking me to Bismarck to look for the evasive shower curtain I've been on the hunt for.

I'm going to help Mom clean out Grandma's apartment today and tomorrow and then plan to start searching for a new dining room table later this week. I'd like to get a counter-top height one, if I can only find it in the color wood and style I want. Wish me luck!

Fun Weekend

Paul picked me up Friday afternoon and we went out to Patty's and picked apples, stopped at my Mom's so she could meet him and then were off to the movies. We saw the new Jodi Foster movie and both enjoyed it. Then we came back here for a quick bite to eat and made the dough and filling for a batch of apple turnovers. There's something about a guy who'll stand side by side with you at the kitchen sink peeling apples :) To me, that's romance and I love the companionship.

Yesterday he came over early and kept me company while I made a Mexican feast. Jane and Marty joined us for dinner and we all had a great time. Marty and Jane both remembered Paul from our younger days and hit it off beautifully. Jane took me aside at one point to tell me that Paul's a keeper :) I think I already knew that :) After they left, Paul stayed for quite awhile, visiting and helping me get things around here back in order.

Today he's coming over and we're goig to be making approximately 60 apple turnovers for the freezer. Lucky guy! Although I have to say that he seems to enjoy being my sous chef. And he most certainly enjoys the fruits of our labors. We plan to go visit my Grandma this afternoon and I did warn him that I am not responsible for anything she says to him. God only knows what that'll be :)

I'm having such a good time hanging around with him and he says he's really enjoying our time together too. In fact, he's asked me to go to Minnesota with him for a race in early October :) This is all a little on the scary side for me but I'm enjoying every minute of it. And Stella is getting quite attached too :)

A man in the house :)

Paul came over after work last night for awhile. Sure is nice to have a relaxing evening with a guy around. He unloaded all the bottled water out of my car that I bought a few days ago. Sure nice to have a guy around to do the heavy stuff. He's such a nice guy and very easy to have around. I'm beginning to really like it :)

We're going to a movie tonight, up to visit my grandma this weekend, taking his Harley to Patty's to pick apples and are having Marty & Jane over for dinner Saturday night. I'm anxious to see how well he gets along with them. They're important to me so that should be a big test. I mentioned going to Bismarck to look for a shower curtain and he said it sounded like a good reason for a little road trip. I just need to find someone to watch Stella. It's a little scary how well he's fitting in to and rounding out my life.

Dear Shylah :)

I spent 4 hours yesterday shortening a bridesmaid dress for my niece, Shylah. It's a good thing she's one of my favorite people in Jim's family :)
The dress was Pepto-Bismal pink and had three layers. The top layer was a filmy chiffon and one big bitch to work with.
The good news is that she'll look beautiful (although she'd look beautiful with or without the dress!) and won't be tripping up the church steps in a dress that's over 4 inches too long. The bad news is that I will not be volunteering to hem her wedding dress :)
Love ya, Kiddo!

So Sad

They could find nothing medically wrong with my Grandma. She continues to have some periods of lucidity amid all the confusion. Nevertheless, she will no longer be able to live alone. She was transfered to the Psychiatric floor yesterday until they find a bed for her at the nursing home. I told her they needed the bed she was in for someone else and that they were just going to transfer her to a different room in a different building. No need to tell the poor old girl she was going to the looney bin for awhile. What's amazing is that she was able to stay in her apartment all these years by herself. At 99, she deserves to have someone else looking out for her. I love you Grandma!

I just like listening to you talk

Paul called last night and after prattling on about Stella, I said, "you must be tired of hearing me talk about my dog." He said he just liked listening to me talk. Good answer! :)

At any rate, I have a date for Friday night and Saturday with him. I'm thrilled. I really like him :)

Did You Get New Teeth??!!

Sunday night, Allison called. My 99 year old Grandma had called her and thought Alex (who lives in the Boston area) was at her house and kept hiding from her. My Mom and I went to see what was going on and she was really looney. Hauled her to the ER where she entertained the whole waiting room for several hours. She had lost her hearing aid so was talking extremely loud and commenting on the other people in the room. Then, out of the clear blue, she looked at me and asked, "Did you get new teeth?" "No, Grandma, I've had these teeth since second grade." (I'm 54!) How she ever had her wits about her to call Allison, I'll never know.

They kept her there and Monday morning she swore she and I had played Bingo the night before. She was mad because she'd lost some money and was sure my Mom had stolen it :) If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. Poor Grandma! She's got all the nurses charmed and her labs and everything else are coming back amazingly within normal range. She seems to be very healthy but a bit whacked out. Probably small strokes. The sad part of it is that she'll never be able to live alone again. And she's always said she'd never go to a nursing home. Just proves you can never say never :(
Although she and my Mom are close, they're like oil and water so I'm going to have to be the poor sap that breaks the nursing home news to her :(

Uh, Oh! There Goes The Neighborhood!

The nosy couple across the street were gone most of the weekend. I was rather relieved they weren't around to speculate on Paul's comings and goings. But I had to giggle to myself to see Mr. Nosy walking out his door when Paul and I came roaring up the street and into my driveway on his big 'ole Harley. And for as much as Jim despised this particular neighbor, I couldn't help but think that he was up there chuckling too :)

Saturday Night Date

Paul cooked dinner last night. If he was trying to impress me, nice thick ribeyes from Charlie's was a good start:)
Today he's taking me for a ride on his Harley. Or as Jameson and Gage call it, big fat hog. I'm cooking dinner tonight. Hope he's impressed with walleye :)

3:10 to Yuma

I had a movie and dinner date last night. Good movie, good dinner and super nice guy :) He's making me dinner tonight :)
Stella liked him too. Oh, and this guy IS taller than I am :)

Chaos at Grandma's

Allison, Jameson, Gage and my Mom had dinner here last night. Good old Fall type dinner of roast pork, mashed potatoes & gravy, roasted carrots and biscuits. Cherry Turnovers for dessert. Mom went home but Allison and her gang spent the night because their house was being painted. Karter breezed in after a meeting to a dark and quiet household. Apparently he heated up leftovers and hit the sack. Bless his heart, his dishes were rinsed and in the sink this morning :)

We were up and at 'em at 6AM. Yyyyaaawwwwnnn!! :) Jameson wanted breakfast burritoes for breakfast and Gage of course wanted pancakes. God forbid they want the same thing. They ate everything on their plates and the dishes are done. Couldn't sell breakfast to either Allison or Karter however. They're all gone now to work, school and day care.


Stella has a groomer's appointment at 10:00 and the carpet cleaners are coming at 11:00. Stella and I will be spending the night at my Mom's tonight to let the carpet dry. I decided that seeing as how we haven't had any accidents for a couple of weeks and she's asking to go outside, she is officially house trained! She was 4 months old on Tuesday. YAY Stella!!! Time to have the carpet cleaned! :)
I'm predicting a much calmer and quiet evening tonight :)

Puppy Overboard!

I woke up at 3:12 AM to a soft thump. Stella had rolled off the bed :) I guess she'll learn the parameters of sleeping on a bed just like little kids do.

DONE!

Front closet............DONE
Dresser Drawers.....DONE
Grocery Shopping...DONE
Walk Stella..............DONE

And I added one more 36 gallon trash bag to the pile!

Yuck, cleaning!

I cleaned out my closet this afternoon and toted out THREE 36 gallon trash bags full of unwanted clothes, shoes and purses. Why the HELL do I save it all???
I love purses and whenever I get a new one, the old one gets put on the closet shelf. Not because I'm ever going to use it again but because... well... I love purses.

And why did I have three pairs of red sandals?? I never wear red sandals, but I always think I need them. And lipstick pink sandals that have never been worn... really, what the HELL was I thinking?? I don't have any clothes that match them and never did. But they ARE cute! :) It's a sickness and... well... I love shoes too. I hate to admit it, but I cleaned out that closet about a year ago.

Tomorrow I'll tackle my front closet (I probably have twenty pairs of sandals hiding there too) and my dresser drawers. And did I happen to mention I love panties too???
Hmmmm, maybe I love purses, shoes and panties because they're the only things that always fit. Yeah, that's it! :)

Dinner

I made a shrimp and macaroni salad this morning and picked up 6 big ribeyes, garlic toast and corn on the cob at B&D. I'm bringing it all along with Mom and Stella out to Allison's tonight. Karter's going to man the grill and Mom is bringing carrot bars for dessert. YUM! Nothing like a good grilled steak and B&D always has great steaks!

Who's here??

I'm loving the program Sarah installed on my computer. It tells you who is reading your blog. It's fun to check and see where everyone is from and it's also cool to see how many readers are "regulars." So, hello to all you blog readers out there :) Bet you thought you were anonymous didn't you??

Dinner with three handsome men :)

Too bad it was two of my grandsons and one of my son-in-laws, although the youngest two are always good for a little snuggling :)

Teddy Bear on a Leash

An old guy stopped to pet Stella while we were out for a walk this evening. He said, "You have a teddy bear on a leash."
Yeah, except teddy bears don't have wicked gas. Phewwwww, Stella!!

Miss Stella G had a bath :)

She came home all muddy from her walk so she got a scrubbing. She now smells like Apple/Pear and is all fluffy again.

Betty Lou's in town :)

Had a nice time catching up with him at the Barley Pop last night.
Thank you Allison for babysitting :)

Labor Day BBQ

Bruce, Mom, Grandma, Stella and I were all invited to Allison & Karter's tonight for a BBQ. I love BBQ and since Jim died, I don't get it much anymore. Can't wait!

It was a three walk day :)

Gage and I took Stella on a long walk this morning. Later this afternoon I took her for another and then this evening, we went again :)
She's getting better at not trying to run ahead and I'm getting some excercise :)
Plus, she's one tired little girl tonight :)
I think last night if I hadn't had to get up and use the bathroom at 5:00AM, she would've slept through the night. Too bad I can't make it through a whole night without getting up. If I could, I'd have a better chance of her sleeping straight through.
Oh well, with Lunesta, going outside in the middle of the night is just a foggy memory in the morning :)

Little Boys, Big Pitas

And no, I don't mean P.I.T.A. Welllllll... maybe I do :)