Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Thursday's Catch All

First of all, I want to thank everyone once more for all of the thoughts and prayers that you have offered for my mom. They are appreciated beyond anything that you can imagine. You guys are all great!!!!!



It has been a long few weeks for her and we still have a way to go for her. The surgery went very well on May 1st. The doctor did not need to remove the muscle from the back of the thigh for the repair so the recovery will be somewhat easier for her. She had to remain absolutely flat for two weeks and was then allowed to sit up for five minutes on May 16th. We joked that she may get altitude sickness, but she was a champ. It was a painful process initially as anyone can imagine after having not bent your body for that long. Today she was able to sit up for ten minutes. It will gradually increase over the next sixty days when she will be able to resume her normal activities. Who had any idea that this could go on for so long? She will be a happy camper to be released from the hospital after a stay that long.




So far May has been a very busy month for us. The month is normally busy as we have five birthdays, Mother's Day and our #1 son and our anniversaries. There is much to celebrate. Since two of our sons have their birthdays around Mother's Day we have, over the years, celebrated birthdays instead of Mother's Day. This year, however, the "guys" treated all the "moms" to a wonderful BBQ dinner. The food was delicious and they did all the cleanup as well. We did celebrate one of the grandchildren's birthday that day so we had a cake and all the cousins got to celebrate with him.






This past weekend we were in Boca Raton, Florida for a business convention. Despite the fact that my husband had business meetings, we were able to enjoy our time away and the peace and quiet that came with it. The first few days were gorgeous and then we got THE rain. Oh my....did it rain!!!! Of course we loved the change and enjoyed watching the lightening from our room on the 22nd floor. It was spectacular. It was a novelty for us Southern Californian folks. It never ceases to amaze me that we can depart over the Pacific Ocean and land over the Atlantic several hours later. Our forefathers would have never imagined such an event.




View of the entrance to the hotel from our room.




View of the Intercostal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.





One of the highlights of the convention was hearing Steve Forbes speak. I had no idea that the man had such a great sense of humor and we thoroughly enjoyed his speech.






I have to also share a photo of one of the desserts that we were served. The cup was actually made out of chocolate and was rimmed in an edible gold dust. The cup was filled with a mocha mousse and was delicious.











This was a sign that cracked me up. I guess that I am not giving my tortoises enough privacy in the back yard. They do not seem to be suffering from the light as our mom layed eight eggs last week. I best not let them know that others are treated differently.












One addiction that I managed to get myself into while away was Soduko. I have always loved numbers and logic games, but this game is amazing. I am sure that most of you have probably been involved with it for years. It is one VERY addicting game. One thing for sure is that it makes a five plus hour plane trip pass quickly. All I can say is that a monster has been created. How am I ever going to find time for it in my life? I wish I could add more hours to my day.






The majority of my sewing has been hand work done at the hospital lately, but I have managed to get some piecing of my wonky cabin quilt done. I still need to add the outer border, but this was a great project for using my gazillion scraps. I need to make about two hundred more of these to make a dent in the stash.







The grandchildren got out of school today for the summer. It's hard to imagine that our eldest grandson will be heading off to college this fall. It will be a short summer for him as he has to be in Florida in August for the start of soccer season at school. I still do not know where the school year went.





As is tradition, our son, Grandpa and the boys left this afternoon for a fishing trip to celebrate school being finished. So far the fishing has been great for them. That means they will be bringing trout home for dinner. Yum!






Since we left the hotel at 4 a.m. and it is now past 1 a.m. E.S.T. I believe that I will close this off and find my bed before I ramble on with more nonsense.





I hope that all will have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and that everyone will take a moment to remember all those who gave so much to give us our freedoms.

18 comments:

  1. Were we in Florida at the same time? We didn't get the rain so guess not. Wow! 22nd floor! Great view! I love listening to Steve Forbes, he is a hoot! Glad you got to hear him! I'm surprised we haven't had him at OR.

    Glad your Mom is coming along so well and that she didn't have to have the more extensive surgery. This is going to be such a long haul for her, I hope she has something she likes to do like reading or soduko! I have never done that, what is the concept? I usually sleep on the plane but sometimes that eludes me so it would be nice to have something to do. This time I watched a couple of movies on my Ipod which helped pass the time. Yes MIA is cold! I think they have the air conditioning on freeze! ha! Of course you know me, I like it!

    Love your quilt. I just haven't done any sewing lately. I am trying to get my photos put in books and the journaling done plus umpteen other things so just haven't gotten into the sewing room. :o( That was a great project to work on to use up your scraps! Want some more!?!

    That sign cracked me up! Evidently the Florida tortoises like their privacy!

    Oh my that dessert looks fabulous! We didn't have anything like that this time as we had mostly Cuban style foods and the desserts were much less formal (but good!).

    We are supposed to get up to almost 90* today! Wow! That sure is a change for us as it has been rather cold. The ponies will start shedding more with heat like that! I am so happy to have them home and they are happy to be here! I think I will go out and take some pictures today.

    Got to go roll Mom's hair as she has a doctor appointment later. She likes having her own private hairdresser! :o)

    Take care! xoxoxox

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  2. Love the quilt...glad your mom is slowly improving, that would be hard to have to lay flat all day...I bet her back hurts. You are a wonderful daughter. When you mentioned the Alantic Ocean, I thought of my son who is in So. America....you have a wonderful family....a true testament to what kind of mother you are.

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  3. Oh no no! It does NOT rain in Florida! That was LIQUID SUNSHINE you experienced.

    The turtles will go to the light and be destroyed by predators rather than go to the safe water. That's why lights must not be turned on during certain times of the year.

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  4. So glad to read an update from you. The news on your Mom sounds good!
    I know how relieved you must be about that..
    So your school is already out? We still have almost a month (mid June) except for the high school which is the end of May.
    Glad you were able to get away for a bit to FL. Someday we may make it to the East Coast.
    Your quilt turned out so pretty.
    Hope the guys fishing trip is a great success. Sounds like a wonderful tradition.
    xo

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  5. Your mom is a real trooper with her recovery!! How did she eat being flat on her back for that time period??

    I have a grandson who will be having his graduation from high school tomorrow night.We leave in the morning for Atlanta..he will be closer to me when he starts college at Georgia Southern University in the next few months..

    You have been very busy and the pictures are great.. I love being by the ocean , it is so calming!!

    Have a wonderful week-end.
    Hugs, Baba

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  6. You and Louise get to go to the most luscious places!

    So glad to see an update - the quilt is amazing. The Mother's Day get-together looks wonderful.

    I can't believe your kids are out of school already. Ours have another whole week. I'm not really looking forward to the long summer break for them.

    Such good news about your mom. She has such good care from you.

    Have a wonderful long week-end.

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  7. what beautiful photos of your trip and family get together.
    I would love to go to the Atlantic someday.
    So glad to hear that your mom is coming along okay.
    Love the quilt and I can't wait to see it when you get the border around it.
    have a blessed weekend.

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  8. Oh my goodness- it was nice to see a post from you. I am so glad that your mom is doing some better. The pictures are gorgeous. I hope you have a great weekend too. We are headed to Helen Ga. again to go trout fishing also.

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  9. Glad to hear your mom is progressing well.
    That dessert looks fabulous.
    Your mothers day must have been wonderful.
    Loved the pictures from your trip.
    The wonky log cabin is great. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with scraps taking over. Have a great weekend.
    Em

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  10. I forgot to take note of the name of that funny little animal. Kristen is back down there at the zoo as a chaperone with Care Bear's first grade class. She's going to check for me.

    It turned into a nice day today after all. It was in the 90s 2 days earlier this week. I hope it's nice for you. Wish you were coming through Loveland! Are you heading back to Iowa?

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  11. Glad that Mom's surgery went well and that she's on her way to recovery,even if it will be slow.I'm glad that you had a getaway...what a view !!!

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  12. Sounds like life is going well. Glad your time in Florida was enjoyable. We used to vacation there for many years, but hubby's favorite spot now is Las Vegas. He loves it there (I do too, but would enjoy the beach again.)

    I HATE Sudoku! I have tried it in the paper when they have the easy ones. My younger daughter LOVES it like you do. I'm sure I would like it, but for some reason the logic with the numbers is just a mystery to me. I'll try it again sometime, but maybe if I watched someone and picked their brain at the same time it would help me "understand". I really have a logical, organized mind, but numbers seem to fudge all that up!

    Glad your mother is making progress. What a relief you must all be feeling.

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  13. Beautiful view!

    Happy news about your mom doing well!

    gorgeous quilt! so talented!

    That dessert looks amazing! So fancy!
    nice post as usual!

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  14. I am so glad your Mom is doing as well as she is. I pray she comes thru this with perfect healing! I am glad you could get away to Florida. And to hear Steve Forbes in person! How great, but even greater was that beautiful dessert! LOL
    Love the turtle sign, better not let your turtles hear about it or they may demand one!

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  15. Thanks for stopping by today!! What a hotel you guys stayed in. We do not live far from Fla..just about 2 hours in fact. We have had so much rain and finally today we had one whole day of NO rain!!
    Sandy

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  16. Love the quilt and I pray your mom continues to recover.

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  17. I am so glad to hear things have been coming along well for your Mom. It has to be so hard for hard but I am sure you are a great support to her. Will keep praying for her.

    Your trip to Florida sounds great as well as your Mother's Day Barbecue. Your writeup was so happy and encouraging, I loved it.

    Oh and your quilt, beautiful. I haven't tried that design yet but will have to.

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  18. My prayers are with you and your mother. Thank you for all your kind words!

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