First snow.

The first snow of the season!!!

Bethany Missouri

Thanksgiving Dinner - Family Style

Thank you to Samantha for putting on a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. 

Aunt Sarah remembered

Bethany / House update

So we are in Bethany until we can take possession of the house. Oh yeah, forgot to update you on the house front. We found a house in Smithville. 4280 Carter. It is a nice house on 1/2 acre. Technically, it has 4 bedrooms plus a den. The only reason the den isnt a bedroom is it doesnt have a window. It has a full basement, finished. Two of the bedrooms are down there, a full bath and laundry room, plus a huge rec room with a fireplace. There is also a fireplace upstairs in the living room. The offer we made was countered and we accepted so now it is a matter of paperwork. The offer was to close and take possession on 12/13 but it might be as soon as 12/5. Keep your fingers crossed for the 5th. 

The word for today is frustration.

The inspection was done on the Cleveland house and came back with a "structural fault". It is not going to fall down anytime soon but, it will need to be corrected sooner than later. Basically when the second floor was finished into bedrooms it wasn't done properly and caused the weight from the roof to shift so that it is no longer over the load bearing wall. This has caused some dips in the floors and cracks on a few walls. Right now it is cosmetic damage. The rest of the house passed with flying colors.  The current mind set is to go back to the sellers and have them do the repair or drop the price the amount of the repair. If this doesnt work then we are back to square one. Maryann (our relator) and I have already started to put lists of houses together again to look at, just in case.  

I have decided I need to find a job in KC in the meantime. I need to finance a car somehow and can't do that without a proof of income. Unfortunately, I have to renew my MO LPN in order to work as a nurse but need cash to renew it which I don't have because I don't have a job....etc.....I believe this is called a catch-22. So I am looking for things like unit clerk, admin asst, etc. They don't require a nursing license. I also can't just go to a temp agency because of the lack of transportation.  

The word for today, boys and girls, is FRUSTRATION!

Rest in peace...

For my friend, Kelly Woods

May you rest in peace.

Strength and chaos

I realized something , which in my opinion was profound.....


If God only gives you what you can handle, I am stronger than I think, because he continues to pile it on and I have not yet collapsed.


My husband constantly reminds me that I am stronger than I think I am. I usually don't stop to analyse this because the moment I stop I am afraid I will collapse. If I just keep going, the momentum keeps the chaos in motion and therefore it does not collapse and bury me.


Here is the current update of the chaos that is my life :


Dad- Continues with his chemo. I believe this week makes 5 treatments. He is continuing to have good and bad days.


Sarah- Started chemo this week. Not sure how she will react. This morning she was feeling ok.


Cleveland House - Inspection hopefully will take place tomorrow and barring anything catastrophic, we should be able to start the final paper work and take possession soon. The current date is set for the 21st but we are trying for sooner.


Tim- Got the job at Stables Bar and Grill in Kearney. WHA-HOOO!!!


Nic - is being the dutiful son and helping me compile birthdays and such for a massive project I have going of a family info chart.


Ian - turns 6 next week (11/10). Still trying to come up with cool party ideas. Lisa and I are planning a joint party for all the November birthdays....James, Ian, Sammie, Cassie, Matthew...did I forget anyone?

Rosie - is being 2. Enough said.

My grandfather Mayo passed away last weekend. Dad, Meg, Matt, and Sammie went to Texas for the service. I have been at Mom's to help with the animals and Meg's kids.

I have multiple projects going....
Family info chart which included extended family.
Recipe collection / book (I could use help if anyone wants to email me recipes HINT-HINT)
Ian's kuddler Blanket for his birthday
Baby blankets for my friends who are expecting
Birthday/Christmas presents for the boys and family.
Christmas present for Dad....look for email on this one!

and Yes, I suffer from insomnia and these are the things I work on when I cant sleep. It is amazing the brilliant ideas you come up with at 3am.

Bethany update

Grandpa Jim was back in the hospital last week for a few days due to Bronchitis. He was released Friday and is back home. I came up Saturday to spend a few days to make sure he behaved hiimself and get the home health and appointments coordinated. He is doing much better. He still considers chocolate cake one of the major food groups but at least he is including meat and vegetables in there as well. He has a really nice lady who comes in three days a week and cooks him a nice hot meal and I cook when i come up too. He is concerned that we are trying to fatten him up for Thanksgiving. :) 

Biscuits and Gravy

Everybody has a comfort food. For me it is biscuits and gravy with pasta as a close second.  I have had a week that has made me rather cranky. My husband (God love him) decided today would be a good day to do something for me. He made me homemade, almost from scratch, biscuits and gravy. He brought me the plate and I about melted into the couch from delight. So I tucked into the gravy goodness and enjoyed my little pieces of heaven.

Smashing Dishes

I saw the craziest thing on TV the other day. Someone has created a place you can go and smash dishes. You write  your frustration or problem on the dish and then throw it against a cement wall. I think this is a great idea...you are able to get out your anger/frustration without hurting anybody and when you are done you have everything you need for a mosaic.  

Gas Price

Wha-hoo!!! Gas is down to $2.52. I can actually afford to drive somewhere. Now all I have to do is find a car. :)

House update

The sellers accepted the offer made on the house. Now it is just paperwork. The plan is to take possession on November 13th. I know it looks small in this picture but it is deceptive. It has 5 bedrooms, two full baths, a full babsement (kinda finished, electrical, wallboard, painted concrete floor) decent sized kitchen, and family room. The backyard is pretty flat and fenced.  It is within walking distance to the Catholic church , St Gabriel. It also has a K-8 school. It is a few blocks from Penguin Park, for those who know KCMO.  Everybody keep your fingers crossed that this goes as planned

Here we go again...

Dad had his third chemo treatment on Thursday.  After each treatment he has had a temperature and not felt well but last night he spiked a temperature of 101.1 (anything over 100.5 is a red flag) and became quite sick. It was a little scarey for me. I have not seem my Dad sick like that. The on-call doc told him to go to the ER. He really didnt want to go. I told him as a nurse I really thought he should go, but as his daughter if he didnt want to go I wouldnt make him. He decided to go. They started IV anitbiotics and kept him at least until the blood cultures come back (Mon or Tues). 

I am finding I have to put my nurse hat on when dealing with my dad in order to keep my sanity. It probably drives him nuts though.  I want to take care of him so I have feel like I am doing something.  I pray daily for strength. 

No longer needing a bigger bucket....

So for a while now I have been subscribing to the idea of when it rains, it pours and I need a bigger bucket. Well as of today,  I no longer need a bigger bucket....I am now to the point of building a dam. We found out last night that Aunt Sarah, has pancreatic cancer. She is at Research. We do not yet know a stage or prognosis.  Please keep her in your prayers. 

Bethany

I spent the past 5 days in Bethany with Grandpa Jim. He was in the hospital last week for excerbation of his congestive heart failure.  Now part of this is probably due to his version of meals...Breakfast is a cinnamon roll and chocolate ensure, Lunch is an ensure (if he remembers), and dinner is a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a chocolare ensure.  While I was there I made actual meals for him. If I made it and put it on the table and just told him to come eat he would but if I asked him what he wanted then he would not eat and just have a peice of cake. Needless to say I just made meals and told him to come eat. 

We got home health set up to come in three days a week to clean and cook for him. He wasnt very happy about this.  He kept fussing about it, but gave up when I reminded him I was just as stubborn as he was.  Being there for more than a few hours, I really got to see how bad his short term memory loss is. 

Hopefully, we can get things finalized and get him moved to KC quickly. WE have found a house and are in process of making an offer on it.  It is near Penguin Park. 

Week of stress

This week has been eventful.

Dad started his chemo and ended up getting admitted to the hospital. At first they thought it was an infection but have since ruled it out. They think it may be a reaction to the chemo. He

was released today to go home but we made do this again next chemo round.

Grandma has been admitted to the hospital too. She has blood clots (DVTs) in her leg. She is deteriorating quickly. Grandpa was admitted to the hospital too for CHF (congestive heart failure)


We are still looking for a house to move into near Mom and Dad or Lisa. We will be moving in with my grandparents and I will be their full-time nurse. We have found a house but still need to get it approved by the sister triad. We hope to have this done sooner than later.

The stress level is way off the charts right now.

Bugs and Humidity

Well, we are back in Kansas City. I had fogotten, or blocked out, the humidity and bugs. Especially the bugs. We have been here for 6 days now and both of the kids and myself look like we have a weird skin aliment.....red bumps all over our legs and arms....bug bites. ICKY!!

The weather is supposed to cool down, soon.

Cross pens

The other day I was not paying alot of attention to what Sean was doing when something caught my eye. I looked over to see him writing a note and I was overcome by a wave of nostaglia. He was using a gold Cross pen. Growing up that is the same style of pen my father used. He always had it with him. It is one of those silly memories that you think of at the strangest times and it always makes you smile.

Anytime I see someone writing with a gold Cross pen I think of my dad and smile.

10 days and counting

We have 10 days left in WA.

This week has been eventful. Nic left last Tuesday for KC. He has moved to Kearney with his Dad and Shannon for the school year. He will be a sophmore at Kearney High. He enrolled Friday and has chosen the acedemic diploma courses. I was enformed he has his on blog now too.

My last day as the Director of Health and Wellness was Friday. I am still on staff and finishing things up this week. It was nice and scarey this weekend to know that the ambulance was at the building 3 times and I was not called to handle any of them. :)

Ian will start home school this week. We have decided with all the chaos it would be the best solution for now. Once we get to KC I will meet with someone from the school district to decide how to proceed.

This week will be catching up and getting things ready to ship or fly to KC.

Those moments when you dont know what to do...

I am having alot of those moments lately when you just don't know what to do. You are so overwhelmed by the things going on around you that you don't even know where to start, or stop, or....well anything. One of my favorite sayings is from Mother Teresa. She says something to the affect of...God only gives you what you can handle, but I sure wish he didn't trust me so much. I am sure he knows I can handle the things going on, and I am sure there is a plan somewhere in this chaos.

Currently, I am subscribing to another saying...When it rains it pours!.... I just keep asking God for a bigger bucket.